


Cry Me a River

by Basnatural



Series: Secrets and Lies [6]
Category: Bastille (Band)
Genre: Anal Sex, Angst, Drama, Dysfunctional Family, Established Relationship, Family Drama, Fluff and Smut, Homophobia, M/M, Travel, Wedding Planning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-01-26 02:21:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 29
Words: 66,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12546664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Basnatural/pseuds/Basnatural
Summary: Wedding planning, crazy families and insane fans all collide to cause even more problems for Dan and Kyle. Will they be able to survive this time?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! I'm back!
> 
> So here is part 5 of the Secrets and Lies series. Obviously if you haven't read the rest then this will be very confusing for you!
> 
> This chapter is shorter than normal, but regular service will resume shortly!
> 
> As always, I love comments and suggestions, don't feel shy and let me know if you think anything could be better.
> 
> xx

Chapter One

_“She’s not fucking pregnant!”_

 

Dan can hear the yelling from the corridor as he walks towards the front door of the flat that he shares with his fiancé, Kyle.

 

He lets out a deep sigh as he realises what had been said, and rubs at his eyes. He seriously contemplated turning around and walking back out of the building and towards the studio, but he can’t leave Kyle to deal with this on his own.

 

He pulls his keys out from his back pocket and unlocks the door quickly. As he enters the living room, a cat bolts past him and into the bedroom to escape the shouting, and Dan watches him wistfully, wishing he was able to do that too.

 

It had been three weeks since Kyle’s brother had dropped the bombshell that Laura - the crazy stalker fan who had pretended to be Kyle’s girlfriend while he had amnesia – was actually pregnant, and Kyle had been fighting with Adam and his parents every night since.

 

Dan throws his bag down against the kitchen counter and jumps up on top of it to wait for his lover to come off of the phone. He watches Kyle pacing back and forth with his mobile to his ear and his eyes shut tightly. He’s pinching the bridge of his nose I frustration. Dan still thinks he looks pretty amazing though in his white t-shirt that is slightly too small for him and is riding up so a small slice of skin is exposed at the back, and his grey jogging bottoms.

 

“Well if she is pregnant, it’s not fucking mine!” he shouts, holding the phone away from him and yelling into the microphone. He presses the on screen button to hang up the call, and throws the handset onto the sofa, screaming in annoyance.

 

“It’s so not as satisfying hanging up on a mobile phone when you’re pissed off is it?” Dan says to him, and Kyle stops pacing, with his back to him and Dan watches as his shoulders shake with laughter.

 

“You and me are like one mind baby,” he says and he turns and walks over to him.

 

He wraps his arms around the man he loves and Dan in turn wraps his legs around the taller man. Kyle dips his head forward to catch his lips in a blistering ‘welcome home’ kiss.

 

“Welcome home honey,” Kyle says agains his lips. “Busy day at the office?”

 

“Mmhmm,” Dan replies and kisses him again. “How are the family?” he asks and Kyle immediately drops his head against Dan’s shoulder.

 

“Can your family adopt me?” he whines pathetically into the older man’s t-shirt and Dan chuckles.

 

“Might make the wedding a bit illegal?” Dan says to him. At the word wedding, both men groan in unison.

 

“We have to go and see that place your parents like tomorrow, don’t we?” Kyle asks and Dan just closes his eyes and nods. “Why did we agree to this?”

 

“Because we said we had no idea what we wanted to do, and mum got too excited. Oh and you wanted to be the perfect son in law and just said yes without listening,” Dan tells him. He’s used to this speech now. He’s said it at least five times this week.

 

“But we both hate large places, manor houses and lots of fuss,” Kyle says.

 

“Yup! Thank god we go to America on Monday and can leave the wedding planning behind!”

 

\---

“He hung up on me!” Adam growls at the other people in the room. He throws the phone across the table and it skids to a halt in front of one of the women sitting with him.

 

“Are you seriously surprised?” his wife asks, picking the phone up and placing it on the sideboard behind her so it was safe. “He’s an ignorant piece of shit that has no idea what is good for him.”

 

The older, tall blond beside her grunts with laughter.

 

“It’s true. I know you grew up with your brother Adam, but over the past year him and his twinky little partner have been nothing but a thorn in me and my family’s side.” Margaret says to him. Adam looks at her from the corner of his eye, but nods reluctantly, knowing exactly what the woman means.

 

“He just makes me so angry that he won’t just accept that you’re pregnant!” he sighs, frustratedly and looks at the young brunette sitting with them.

 

“I know!” she whines and pouts. “Can’t he just admit that he can’t remember sleeping with me and get on board?” she adds.

 

“But Laura, you didn’t sleep with him,” Charlene says to her, and Laura giggles like a school girl.

 

“Oh yeah!”

 

“Look, we have a plan, and we just have to wait for this to play out to our advantage,” Margaret explains to them all. “You have to go to your parents for that weekly meal,” she says pointing to Laura and the Simmons’, “and you and me have to go and see your father,” she says to Charlene.

 

All the participants of the meeting agree and nod their heads sedately. Each of them stand up and start to get ready. Margaret puts her hand on Lorraine’s arm and speaks to her quietly.

 

“Are you sure Adam is up for this?”

 

“It’s fine. You know he’ll do anything for my family.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, I haven't forgotten about you!
> 
> Been super busy with work, but have managed to get some writing time in.
> 
> Please enjoy! x

Chapter Two

“I still can’t believe you have me up at this time in the morning. Dan your family is almost as crazy as mine!” Kyle complains bitterly, and Dan elbows him in the side, but was feeling exactly the same way.

 

It was almost 9:30 in the morning and both men were shivering outside the entrance gates to Syon House and garden – the place that Dan’s mum wanted them to look at as a wedding venue. Both men were shivering in the crisp November morning and they both had their hands dug deeply into their coat pockets. Both were wearing jeans and matching NASA t-shirts, but Kyle had on a leather jacket and his blue beanie cap, and Dan had on his red and black checked coat and a cap.

 

They were both absolutely freezing.

 

They could see their breath in front of them as they slowly got colder and colder and Kyle starts stamping his feet in a vain attempt to try and warm himself up. They had braved the Saturday tourist traffic to trek all the way across town and north to reach this place – reportedly in London. However, as Kyle so eloquently exclaimed to half of the bus on the way there; “if it doesn’t have an underground station, it’s not in London!”

 

Syon Park did not have an underground station anywhere near it. Kyle wasn’t impressed.

 

“They’ll be here soon, surely,” Dan says to no one and looks at his watch and then his phone. It was then that Kyle noticed the sign for the on-site restaurant.

 

“Come on, text them and say we’ll meet them there,” he says and grabs Dan’s hand before dragging him forcefully towards the direction the arrow was pointing them in.

 

They walk quickly down to the small outhouse building and literally stumble through the door to get access to the warmth inside. It was a quaint little garden centre coffee shop with wooden tables and chairs dotted around the bare stone room, but there was a fireplace in the corner blasting out heat.

 

A big sign at the door tells them to take a seat, so they choose a table close enough to the fire to benefit from it, but not so near that they would be melting. Both boys strip their jackets and place them on the back of the chairs. Kyle groans in pleasure as he starts to thaw, and Dan’s cock immediately twitches in some sort of Pavlovian response. He glares at his lover.

 

“What?” Kyle looks perplexed at the look and when he sees the redness spread up the other man’s neck, he looks at him with a smirk of realisation.

 

“What can I get you two gentlemen?” an elderly, grey haired woman says, coming up to the table with a notepad in her hands.

 

“Erm, uh, hang on,” Dan stumbles over his words and grabs the menu to hide his embarrassment.

 

“Can I please get a flat white?” Kyle interrupts, in his politest manner and smiles widely at the woman.

 

“Of course! And what about you hun?” she says jotting the order down and turning to Dan.

 

“Cappuccino please,” he says, and then jumps almost two foot out of his chair when a loud roar occurs in his ear and two hands squeeze his shoulders.

 

“Oh for fuck’s sake!” he shouts loudly, earning a disapproving look from the waitress who then quickly scurries away from the noise. He then gets a slap around the back of his head.

 

“Daniel! Language!” Dan hears his mother’s voice admonish from behind him, and he gets up quickly to greet his family.

 

“You utter bastard,” he says to Kyle as he moves, seeing the man laugh quietly behind his hand. “You saw them didn’t you?”

 

“Dan I got a cast and lost my beard, I didn’t go blind,” Kyle says to him and shakes Mr Smith’s hand and kisses Mrs Smith on the cheek as they sit down. “Plus Ella went like this,” and he puts his finger to his lips in a shushing gesture, “and the rules say I can’t say anything when that happens.”

 

“Yeah, since when did you ever follow the rules?” Dan mutters as he finally greets his sister with a hug and they all sit down, Kyle sticking his tongue out at his fiancé as they do.

 

“So what do you think of the place?” Dan’s mum gushes excitedly to the two men and they both look at each other at a loss for what to say. Kyle just gives Dan a look that essentially say, ‘she’s your mother’.

 

“Uhm, yeah it’s nice,” Dan says diplomatically. “Err, big.” Ella giggles.

 

“Well, we have an appointment to look around in half an hour,” Mrs Smith tells them and the waitress returns with the hot drinks and plonks them down rudely in front of the men, clearly now deciding they were thugs and not the nice young men she thought they were.

 

“Mum, you do know me and Kyle don’t want a big fuss, right?” Dan tries to tell his mother.

 

“Pfft. Nonsense. My only son is getting married, and we want to tell everyone!”

 

“Isn’t meant to the be the daughter you were meant to be excited about getting married?” Kyle asks, genuinely interested.

 

“Absolutely not. Ella is staying with us until she is 45 and then she might be allowed to go on another date,” Mr Smith pipes up and Kyle looks at Ella with confusion and watches as she rolls her eyes.

 

“Damn girl, what did you do?” he asks, shocked at the turn around in his future father in law’s willingness to let her date.

 

“I broke my curfew when I went out with Tyler last week, and may have come home a little…drunk,” she explains to him and Kyle just nods sagely in understanding.

 

Dan scoffs and looks at his dad. “Come on, it’s not like I didn’t do shit like that!”

 

“Dan I’ve seen photos of you when you were her age, there was no danger of anything happening to you,” Kyle says off handedly, drinking his coffee and Ella burst out laughing while Dan just gapes at him. Kyle hears nothing from his partner and he looks up to see the affronted look on his face. “Not that I wouldn’t have…I mean…just… _what have I done_?” he cries to himself and thumps his head down on the table, while the entire Smith family chuckles at him.

 

Dan scoots his chair closer to him and puts his arm around his shoulders, hugging him tightly.

 

“I knew what you meant,” he whispers into his ear. “Not going to stop me punishing you when we get home though,” he adds quieter so no one can hear him and palms Kyle’s crotch quickly, eliciting a small whine from the man.

 

“I hate you,” Kyle says in response.

 

“You love me,” Dan replies and sits back in his chair. “So shall we go and look around then?”

 

\---

 

The five of them stand in the grand glass conservatory building waiting for their guide to greet them. Finally, a short, stocky dark haired man in his early thirties appeared from nowhere and grandly introduces himself as ‘Patrick’. He was very smartly dressed in a suit and tie, and Dan immediately felt underdressed for the occasion.

 

“So, Mr and Mrs Smith you are here to discuss details for your son’s wedding I see?” Patrick asks and looks at the clipboard he is holding. The parents nod emphatically at the statement. “Well, which of these fine gentlemen is your son?” he asks and Mr Smith puts a proprietary hand on Dan’s shoulder, and Patrick looks a bit offended at his attire, but smiles smarmily and holds his hand out to shake it.

 

“Pleasure, I’m sure,” Dan says to him when he greets him.

 

“And is this the blushing bride?” Patrick says and looks over at Ella, who snorts and chokes back a laugh.

 

“No this is our daughter Ella. Dan’s fiancé is Kyle here,” Mrs Smith explains, almost proudly.

 

Kyle gives the man a small smile and a wave, not wanting to engage with the strange little person. Patrick seems shocked for a moment, but regains his composure quickly.

 

“Oh, alright then, well let me give you the tour of this space and then we can talk guest numbers and costings,” Patrick quickly says and leads them grandly through the glass building.

 

“What the hell is the closet case upset about us getting married for?” Kyle whispers to Dan, who just gives him a disapproving look as he walks.

 

“Not everyone is gay Ky,” he mutters from the corner of his mouth as they try to smile and look interested.

 

“…and this part of the building dates back all the way to 1832…” they hear the guide announce.

 

“Ooh, look! Sconces!” Kyle shouts, eagerly and quickly escapes from the tour in order to ignore the history of the place. Dan sighs deeply and stays with his family.

 

He doesn’t see Kyle again until they are sitting down at a large round wooden table with brochures in front of them and Patrick is drawing some sort of elaborate diorama on a blank piece of A4 paper. Dan is sitting with his legs crossed and his hand covering his face, when he feels Kyle sit down on the seat next to him.

 

“What did I miss??” he whispers into the singer’s ear and Dan turns round in the seat to look at him and berate him from leaving him for AN HOUR with the tour from hell.

 

When he looks at him, all he can see is Kyle eating a Cornish Pasty and drinking from a cardboard cup.

 

“You’re kidding me?” is all he says and glares at the man.

 

“What, I was hungry!” Kyle says, a wide eyed look on his face. Dan scowls and grabs the drink from his hand and takes a gulp. The bitter caffeine is just what he needed to perk himself up, and both the men turn back to the event organiser.

 

“So the last question is about music, we can provide a DJ for a small extra fee…” Patrick starts to say to Dan’s parents, but Dan immediately cuts him off.

 

“I’ll sort the music,” he says quickly, and Patrick glares over at him as if he had completely forgotten the man was there.

 

“Well, people really do like our DJ selection,” he says to the singer with a smug, patronising look. “And we can do a very good deal on it,” he adds as an aside to his parents.

 

“You can do a better deal than _free_?” Dan asks the man with a raised eyebrow and a curious look.

 

Patrick just looks at him for a moment and then starts sorting through his papers to find something that might help him.

 

“Well we do have access to one of the best ones in London? But if you want to go with someone who isn’t nearly as good…” the man trails off, leaving his though unfinished.

 

Dan smirks and looks at him. “Mate I think the group I have in mind will be fine,” he tells him.

 

“Alright then,” Mrs Smith says suddenly. “Patrick, you have our details and if you can get back in touch with some numbers that will be fantastic. It might be a while for us to get back to you though, Dan is going on tour _with his band_ at the beginning of next week, so we can chat about it when he gets back.”

 

With the quick hint from the matriarch, Patrick gulps quickly and looks at the pair. Dan can see in his face that he is going to google his name after they leave. Everyone says goodbye to the man and Dan watches as Kyle finishes off his food and drains his cup.

 

The taller man walks sedately over to the planner and claps him on the shoulder.

 

“I wouldn’t worry mate, we didn’t know who you were either,” and he winks at him and walks away grabbing Dan’s hand again.

 

“You’re a menace to society you know that?”

 

“Shut up,” Kyle says with a smirk. “I want to go home. Didn’t you say something about a punishment?”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Syon Park looks awesome:  
> https://www.syonpark.co.uk/


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

“I’m so glad that Rupert can get us a _really good deal_ on a DJ,” Kyle says sarcastically as he unlocks the front door and strolls through it, Dan hot on his heels.

 

“His name wasn’t Rupert, Ky,” Dan admonishes as he pulls his wallet, keys and phone from his jacket and then throws it onto the sofa. A ginger and white streak rushes past, looking back at him with disgust. “Sorry Ruben!”

 

“Like I can remember what closet case’s name was. He was a creep anyway,” Kyle responds with a wave of his hand. He’s pulled his hat off of his head and how his hair is sticking up at about ten different angles. Dan chuckles at the sight and walks over to smooth it out for him.

 

“He wasn’t a creep…he was just…odd,” Dan says to his as he cards his hands through the younger man’s hair.

 

Kyle closes his eyes at the touch and lets the singer pull at his hair to get it to sit right again. After one particularly strong tug, Kyle groans loudly and Dan’s hands still at the noise.

 

_“Really?”_ Dan says with a smirk, and he watches as Kyle’s eyes crack open. Seeing how close his partner is now standing to him, he swallows loudly.

 

“Uhm…no, yeah! Err, he was definitely hitting on you,” Kyle stumbles over his words, trying desperately to ignore what Dan’s question was insinuating.

 

“Baby, he was not interested at all,” Dan tells him and starts to pull the strands a little bit harder again, enjoying the reaction it was eliciting from his fiancé.

 

“Everyone hits on you,” Kyle almost whimpers at the touch, and Dan laughs at the admission. He raises an eyebrow and quickly surges forward to mouth at Kyle’s neck – right where the hair growth stops.

 

“Keep talking,” Dan murmurs into the soft, warm skin and moves his right, casted hand down to Kyle’s hip and roughly yanks the man’s head up, back and to the side with his left. Kyle moans again, and Dan gently bites down into his neck and then licks the skin to avoid too much bruising.

 

“Uhm, yeah? Well they do and it makes me jealous…ngghhh!” the noise escapes his lips, unbidden as Dan continues to nip and kiss at his neck and then grabs and thrusts his hips into Kyle’s groin to rub their aching cocks together.

 

“Take me to bed,” he whispers softly into the shell of Kyle’s ear, and then he sucks on the earlobe waiting for him.

 

“Yeah, OK,” is all the younger man can get out before he is dragging Dan through the small flat by his belt loops and then roughly throwing him down onto the bed.

 

Dan leans back on his elbows, his eyes blackened with lust. As Kyle pulls his t-shirt over his head and then unbuckles his jeans, Dan feels his thighs immediately parting wider, waiting for what he knew was coming.

 

“You’re a fucking tease, do you know that?” Kyle demands from his lover and just watches as Dan licks at his lips, turning his head to the side in a cocky way.

 

Kyle climbs on the end of the bed, and straddles Dan’s hips, leaning forward to grab at his lips and draw him into a filthy and unco-ordinated lip lock, with far too much tongue. Neither man cared at this point, they were both riled up too much, not having a lot of time to do more than rushed morning blow jobs in the past three weeks.

 

Pulling away finally, Kyle just whispers, “get the lube” against Dan’s lips and the man scrambles up toward the head of the bed to pull out what Kyle had requested. He threw it over his shoulder and then crawls backwards towards Kyle until his arse is resting snugly against the younger man’s. He starts making small circles with his hips, causing more delicious noises to come from the man behind him.

 

Kyle reaches in front of Dan to unbuttons his jeans and then reaches between them to pull the back of the trousers forcefully down.

 

“You want this, huh?” Kyle asks in a lustful tone and he can see how Dan is blushing at the question. “Say it,” Kyle asks him into his ear and bites down on the back of his neck – retaliation to what had happened to him not ten minutes previously.

 

Dan breathes harshly at the feeling and continues to moves backwards into Kyle, and Kyle dribbles thick layers of lube on his fingers and down Dan’s crack before rubbing one finger tantalising over the entrance.

 

“Say it baby, say it or I just go now,” he teases into his ear and sucks on his earlobe.

 

“Ky…god Ky!” Dan breathes heavily and tries to grind backwards onto Kyle’s finger. “God, I want it. Fuck me Ky, I need you inside me!” and as soon as the words are said, Kyle breaches the tight ring of muscle and immediately starts to work quickly at fingering his lover open.

 

One finger very quickly turns into two, and when he is scissoring the man open as wide as he knows he will go, he pulls his own dick out of his jeans and coats it liberally with the tube he still has.

 

“Baby, you sure you still want this?” he asks lightly into his ear and he sees the look of anger and frustration that flickers across Dan’s face at the threat of stopping everything.

 

“I swear to god Kyle, if you don’t…” and he doesn’t get to finish his threat and Kyle swiftly thrusts into him all the way and bottoms out without stopping.

 

Dan cries loudly and the momentum pushes him forwards onto all fours. Kyle grabs both of the older man’s hips and pounds into him heavily, his own breathing starting to become harsher. Dan pushes backwards, clearly wanting more.

 

Dan moans again, even louder than before, his fingers grabbing at the sheets and his knuckles turning a bright shade of white at the pressure. Kyle can feel himself nearing closer to the edge, and his hands start to put light bruises onto the hips of the man in front of him. He gets faster and faster, before reaching to the front and pulling the jeans and boxers fully down and freeing Dan’s aching cock – he hears the slap as it springs back, hitting Dan in the stomach.

 

He continues to thrust as he grabs hold of the leaking cock waiting for him and Dan immediately starts to thrust forward into the hand as well as backward to get his fill of Kyle.

 

“Fuck Kyle, I’m so close, harder, please!” Dan moans out, and the words make Kyle rush even closer to his own release.

 

He starts to squeeze and rub at the leaking head with his good hand and Dan almost screams as his release hits, and he feels the warm fluid cover his hand. He continues thrusting into his, chasing his own release, but as soon as the orgasm hit his own partner, the muscle contractions around his own dick ekes him over the ledge.

 

“Dan, fuck Dan! I’m coming!” is all he gets out and his legs start to shake involuntarily as he shoots into his partner.

 

There is nothing but panting breaths filling the room as the two of them lie on top of one another, breathless and exhausted.

 

Dan snuggles backwards into Kyle’s warmth and Kyle knows that the man will have closed his eyes and will be trying to get some sleep.

 

“Baby?” Kyle asks him, softly and kisses him on the temple.

 

“Mmm?”

 

“You are still fully dressed and now disgustingly filthy. Bath?”

 

“Mmm,” Dan replies, not happy with the suggestion.

 

“Mate, come on?” Kyle pleads with him and Dan turns over and looks at him. Kyle gives him the puppy dog eyes and Dan finally rolls his eyes to relent.

 

“Then I’ll make my famous phone call to the take out place?” Kyle adds, and this confirms the decision.

 

“Fine, but you’re coming in with me,” Dan says to him and rolls off of the bed, dragging his best friend with him.

 

\---

Waking up the next morning was painful for both of them but not because of the sex the previous night.

 

Lexie had jumped on them at a ridiculous hour wanting fed and Kyle had finally given in at 5:30, but that only gave him another two hours to sleep until they had to go to an early morning Sunday hospital appointment.

 

No, Dan and Kyle couldn’t believe it either, but there were places that did these evil things. The only positive about it was they were getting their casts off that morning and then had to spend the rest of the day in the studio practising and making sure they were able to play all their songs for the tour starting the following day.

 

Kyle groans when his alarm wakes him up. It was going to be a long day.

 

“Oh my god. It’s going to be a fucking long ass day,” Dan says before even opening his eyes. Kyle giggles and this earns him a death glare.

 

“Dude, you’re the one who decided leaving the day after we get these things off was a good idea,” Kyle tells him and gets an even worse look from him.

 

Before he is able to say anything, Dan’s phone rings the opening tune to Laura Palmer.

 

“How does he even do it? I’ve not seen him for days!” Dan exclaims loudly whilst frowning at his phone. Kyle smirks to himself. It wasn’t worth telling him he had done it to get rid of the Twin Peaks tone.

 

“Well, hello! Long time no hear,” he says sarcastically into the handset, and Kyle looks at him, confused. He sits up a bit taller and rearranges the pillows behind Dan so he can relax in a comfier position than cross legged in the middle of the bed.

 

Kyle listens to the silence and can only hear murmuring from the other end of the phone, the person clearly trying to explain something.

 

“Jools, I don’t give a crap! You didn’t call to say what you were doing. It’s been three weeks since we heard from you. You’re lucky the lawyer is all I sent your way.” Kyle gives him the eyebrow. Jools had even pissed him off with the way she had been avoiding both of them since Manchester. And he was her best friend. There was more silence from Dan, before he got clearly pissed off with her excuses.

 

“Look, be at the studio at eleven. We’ll all be there; we can discuss what’s going to happen as a group.” And he hangs up on the woman.

 

“Wow, this day just got even better!” Kyle says sarcastically and kisses the singer on the cheek before crawling out of bed.

 

\---

Once the casts were removed and the new braces were given out, the two men head back towards the studio. Both were amazed that they still had a degree of dexterity left in their hands, but the consultant had told them it was because they had continued to use their fingers.

 

Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, they thanked the man, promised to ring when they were back from tour for a check-up and to arrange physiotherapy and were allowed to head on their way.

 

They arrive at their building half an hour later and walk into find Charlie and Woody sitting there. Sharon was unable to make it because of some family emergency, and Will was running late. Kyle immediately walks up to Charlie and hugs him tightly – something that had become a lot more common now that they knew they were brothers. Dan ended up sitting next to Woody and chatting about what the consultant had told them.

 

Eventually Will turns up and before they start anything, Dan clear his throat somewhat officially, to get their attention.

 

“So, I had a phone call from Jools this morning,” he explains to them. The three men look at him disbelievingly. “I know, alright. She buggered off and didn’t say anything for weeks, but she’s coming here today and I thought we could have a chat and see exactly what happened, alright?” he says to them.

 

“What is the plan for what she did with Pompeii?” Will eventually asks, not agreeing or disagreeing with the singer.

 

Woody nods in agreement with the questions. Dan bites his lips. He knows that none of the men in that room with him will be happy with what the lawyer has agreed to with Dave and the girls. In face he knows this is so true, that he hasn’t even told Kyle yet.

 

“Uhm, yeah, well, we’ll talk about that when she gets here,” Dan evades, almost expertly in his response.

 

“Hang on, you know what’s going on with that?” Kyle asks him, confused with the admission.

 

“You don’t know?” Woody asks him and Kyle just shakes his head. “Shit, man that means it’s not gonna be good then,” he says to Will who just raises both eyebrows in response.

 

That very second, the door creaks open and the familiar face and red hair of Dan’s assistant walks through the door, trying to make herself look as small as possible so that they wouldn’t notice she was there.

 

“Morning,” Will says to her and she looks at each man in turn with a guilty look on her face. She looks at Kyle last, and he knows it’s because she will see nothing but hurt in his eyes.

 

“Oh, hi,” she says to them and gives them a small wave.

 

“Take a seat,” Kyle pipes up and points at the lonely seat in the middle of the room where everyone can see her. She walks slowly over to it after taking a deep breath. She takes her bag off from where she had it crossed over her chest and sits down primly.

 

Before anyone has a chance to say anything she starts to talk.

 

“I know I fucked up,” she starts and Woody scoffs at the admission. “I was stressed over what happened to Kyle. I was being harassed by Adam,” and at that admission, Kyle, Dan and Charlie all looked a bit more intrigued, “and I was angry about what you said to me. I did a stupid thing in retaliation, and the reason I haven’t been in touch is because I was embarrassed and nervous about what might happen. All I want to say is that I’m sorry, and I completely understand if you never want to see me again.” She finishes and the room goes silent for a while as everyone takes in what she had told them.

 

Dan had told Kyle what he had said to Jools and he had had his ear chewed off for it. But the admission that Adam had been causing problems for her as well was new to everyone involved.

 

Since the revelation that Charlie was related to the family, he had been seeing and hearing a lot more from the older brother. Adam for some reason had decided that getting on Charlie’s good side would benefit him in some way and the three men still had no idea exactly what it was he thought he would get from the closer bond.

 

“I don’t think we can decide anything until Dan tells us what the lawyers have decided. Oh, and as an aside – Jools, this is our livelihood and Dan’s life’s work you were messing with. This isn’t high school. Grow the fuck up,” and Will folds his arms when he finishes his speech and Jools flushes red at the dress down.

 

Dan chews the inside of his cheek as everyone looks at him. Kyle notices how nervous he clearly was and moves his chair over to him and pulls him into his side. He sees the flash of jealousy in Jools’ eyes and decides to ignore it.

 

“We have our song back, they won’t be releasing it,” Dan tells them and they all sigh in relief.

 

Woody looks at him, slightly confused. “If that was all, why didn’t you tell Kyle or any of us when you found out?” he asks him.

 

“Dave is saying we owe him a favour in return. He won’t tell us what it is, but he will let us know when he thinks of something,” Dan finally says.

 

“Fuck is that it?” Kyle exclaims. “Mate as long as he doesn’t want to come on stage and sing I don’t give a shit what he wants!”

 

“So what are we doing with her?” Charlie pipes up and looks at Jools with daggers in her eyes.

 

“Well, my vote is for another try, but what does everyone else think?” Dan says to them. Jools shifts uncomfortably in her seat, not liking the way she was being talked about like she wasn’t there. “Wood?”

 

“Well, now that we don’t have to worry about the song…you did apologise, so yeah, I suppose. But my vote is for a first and final.” The drummer says and Jools gives him a small smile in return.

 

“Charlie?” Dan asks and Jools looks surprised at the inclusion of the touring member in the decision.

 

“Sorry Dan, but nope. I don’t trust her so I say ditch her,” and Jools looks at him in shock. Dan shrugs at what he says and looks at his fiancé.

 

“Ky?” and Kyle looks back at Dan with a strange conflicting look in his eyes.

 

Ever since Kyle found out what Jools had done he was furious. Yes, he was angry with what Dan had said to her, but what she had done had been cruel and twisted and not something he would ever have expected the girl to do. She was his best friend and she had betrayed that trust.

 

He shakes his head slowly and sadly and he hears Jools gasp softly. Dan just nods at him and his decision and looks at Will.

 

“Well mate, we’re tied. Your decision Will,” he says and the bass player looks up from the floor and at the girl in front of them.

 

“You had good ideas. We don’t have time to replace you. You prove yourself in the States,” is all he says.

 

“Right, well. Go and book your flight for tomorrow then. Itinerary is in the booth and go and look over it, we’ve got some practising to do,” is all Dan says at the decision and they all stand up and start to get things set up.

 

Jools walks up to Kyle and tries to put a hand on his shoulder, but the taller man just shirks away from the contact.

 

“Don’t touch me, don’t talk to me. As far as you’re concerned I don’t exist,” is all he says to her and lifts up his spare keyboard and walks to the centre of the room.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Dan had been right. The day was long. And for Kyle, boring. Yes, he had to make sure he was able to play, and that he remembered everything – these were going to be the first shows that they had performed since his amnesia after all – but as everyone in that room knew, Kyle gets restless very easily.

 

Him and Charlie had spent the entire day ignoring Jools, which also meant there was one less person in the room he could poke fun at, which again resulted in him being _bored_. When they had ended up juggling Woody’s drumsticks, making sure he couldn’t do any work – and as it was now reaching nine in the evening – Dan and Will both decide it was time to call it a day. Kyle literally dances as he starts to pack up his kit.

 

“You are literally a child in a man’s body, do you know that?” Will shouts over to him.

 

“What you saying over there, baby?” Kyle shouts back, just to annoy him further. Will gives him the middle finger in return.

 

Kyle had finishing packing up all of his stuff faster than anyone else, so he turns to his man, stand behind him with his hands on his hips and starts to try and dance a basic salsa. Dan studiously tries to ignore him and continues to pack his own things away.

 

“Seriously Dan, how do you live with him?” Will asks for what feels like the hundredth time since he found out about the two of them.

 

“I’ve been telling you for years, if you ignore him long enough he does eventually stop,” Dan replies, distracted by what he was doing. In order to prove him wrong, Kyle starts humming Smooth by Santana and continues to shake his hips.

 

“Stop laughing at him!” the bass player exclaims exasperatedly at Charlie, who was giddy with excitement by this point. Kyle abruptly stops what he’s doing – albeit with a flourish – and races to his brother’s rescue.

 

“Simmons’ stick together Lord Farq…leave my brother alone!” he says pointing a disapproving finger at his older friend, but with a playful glint in his eye.

 

“What the fuck?” comes a cry from the corner of the room, and everyone stops what they are doing to look over at the noise. When Kyle realises it is from the red head, he snorts, rolls his eyes and goes back to sorting out the stuff he and Charlie had been goofing around with.

 

“What’s up Jools?” Dan asks her, looking around to make sure he had picked up everything.

 

“Brothers?” she repeats, and Dan realises that she still didn’t know about the Big Simmons’ Secret.

 

“Yup,” Kyle says, picking up a duffel that Dan had filled with the things that they would be needing, and then walks dismissively past his ‘friend’ and towards the door. “If you’d been around you would have known,” he adds as an afterthought, and barges through the door.

 

Dan shoots her an apologetic look when he notices how shocked she was. He opens his mouth to try and say something, or explain, but is cut off by an angry shout from the hallway.

 

“Dan!”

 

“Sorry,” he says to Jools and grabs his coat before running out of the room. He finds Kyle waiting at the door to the stairs with a sad look on his face. Dan considers whether he wanted to say anything to try and soothe him, but he is stopped before even opening his mouth.

 

“Dude, can we not?” Is all Kyle says and he waits for Dan to open the door for him – his own hands full of bags.

 

Dan sighs loudly and pulls the door open, but manages to kiss the younger man on the cheek as he passes to try and let him know everything would be alright.

 

\---

Kyle throws the duffels in to the corner of the room with frustration as soon as they get back to the flat, and almost knocks over the pot of the cheese plant with the force.

 

“Kyle!” Dan shouts angrily, and rushes over to the bag.

 

“Sorry,” the other man says quietly and can feel the flush of embarrassment creep up his face. “Nothing breakable in there was there?”

 

“Did it feel heavy?” Dan demands from him and Kyle nods with wide eyes. “Well what the fuck do you think?” and the rhetorical questions hangs in the air as he unzips the bag to sort through the contents and starts grumbling random words to himself. “Thank fuck you didn’t break anything.”

 

“I said I was sorry! God!” Kyle explodes. “I thought that was all it took for you to forgive people anyway,” he mutters, not planning on Dan to hear him.

 

“What the fuck does that mean?” Dan spins around and glares at him.

 

“Well, it’s not like I, you know, sold you out to the arsehole who tried to break the band _and us_ up. Or you know, forged a document where you signed your hit song over to a group of slutty, ‘will fuck anything with a cock’ musical wannabes. I accidentally threw something and didn’t break it, so yeah, you know, that’s worse,” Kyle shouts sarcastically at the singer and flounces into the bedroom slamming the door behind him.

 

“Looks like I’m sleeping out here tonight then Bert,” Dan says to the plant behind him and start to look for the sleeping bag and pillow to throw on the sofa.

 

\---

The tension between the two of them had increased ten-fold by the time they had arrived at Heathrow the following day. There had been nothing but grunts and sighs between the two of them – Kyle still angry about the previous evening, and Dan pissed off _because_ Kyle was angry about the previous evening.

 

Getting to the lounge and being able to get away from each other was a relief to both men. Both too stubborn to talk or capitulate to the other - they both believed they had a point to prove, but they refused to even talk to the other one about it. Kyle storm over to get himself a can of diet coke out of the complimentary fridge and look over the pastry selection he could help himself to, while Dan head over to the small group who had gathered.

 

Most of the crew and the brass section had travelled over to the first venue the previous day, with the ones that remained only being the band themselves, Jools and Sharon. Dan walked over and immediately they sensed something was wrong. Knowing the man as they did, Woody, Will and Charlie all decide to brush over the fact that Dan looks like he wants to punch the nearest wall.

 

Jools – not being as aware of the man, and still not being on great terms with the others – looks at her boss.

 

“Mate you look pissed off,” she says lightly and every other member of the group groans loudly.

 

“Do I?” Dan asks angrily. “Do I really?” and he tries to ignore the neck slice action and shaking of the head coming from drummer to his left.

 

“Er,” the woman says, now not too sure what to say.

 

“Jools, why don’t you and me go and get a coffee or something?” Sharon jumps to her rescue and starts to pull her away by the elbow, leaving the group of men behind. Jools looks at her gratefully as they walk towards the coffee station.

 

“OK, so I’ve only experienced an ‘Angry Dan’ once before, but Charlie has told me the best way to deal with it is to ignore it until it goes away,” Sharon whispers into Jools’ ear as they stand waiting for the coffee to drip slowly into the cup.

 

“But he was angry when I did that…thing,” Jools says to her and flushes red.

 

“Yeah, no, that’s mildly pissed off Dan,” Sharon explains. “Because he’s laid back normally, to get Dan angry, there’s got to be a big reason for it. And considering the other half of the unbreakable duo is sitting over there on his own, I’m guessing that has something to do with it.”

 

“So what did you do to get Dan angry?” Jools asks, genuinely intrigued.

 

“Yeah, we don’t talk about that,” Sharon dismisses quickly and as the second cup finally finishes filling with caffeine she grabs it and hands it to the woman next to her. “Let’s go talk to Kyle and see what’s happened,” Sharon says after taking a sip of the coffee and walking over to the table he was sitting at with a newspaper spread out in front of him. Jools contemplates it for a moment, but looks over at the angry look of the singer and decides that Kyle has to forgive her at some time.

 

“Nah, don’t pretend you’re reading that crap. Where’s the Closer magazine you have snuck in the pages,” Sharon says cheekily as she walks up to Kyle.

 

Kyle looks up at the comment and when he sees his brother’s girlfriend he smiles widely. “Yeah you caught me. I’m actually watching Jeremy Kyle on my phone. Don’t tell anyone,” he jokes back and then his smile fades quickly when he sees Jools standing next to the teen. He narrows his eyes and then looks back at Sharon.

 

“Shouldn’t you be with what’s his face over there?” he says pointing out Charlie.

 

“Yeah, but Jools stupidly asked Dan what was wrong so I took her away before he could explode.” Sharon tells him. “I assume you had something to do with that?”

 

“I apologised for something and he was still pissed off,” Kyle explains simply. “Obviously I don’t afford the same luxuries as some people I can think of,” he adds and stares at the older woman.

 

“Kyle, for god’s sake, when are you going to talk to me properly?” Jools breaks and sweeps into sitting opposite the man she used to consider the best person she had met.

 

The man looks at her with one eye brow raised. He crosses his arms and leans back in the chair.

 

“Alright, let’s take a look back over Jools’ greatest hits for the past month or so shall we?” Kyle looks at her to see if she is going to go anywhere. When she doesn’t move he starts counting them off on his fingers.

 

“One, you talked us into hiring the interviewer from hell who tried to piss us off and break up the band – who by the way has still not given us the film footage that she took from Tom.”

 

“That wasn’t my fault, it was a good idea, and she was a good contact!” Jools protests and is silenced with a look from the man.

 

“Two, when I lost my memory, you didn’t tell me what my family was doing with the crazy fan. You were there constantly Jools, how difficult would it have been to say, ‘Oh, Kyle, by the way, you’re in a long term committed relationship with the random dude who keeps coming to see you’?”

 

“That wasn’t me either! Your doctor said that he didn’t want you knowing anything!” Kyle just rolls his eyes at the further excuse.

 

“Number three,” he continues, “when said random dude attacks you verbally when he was annoyed, you don’t go and talk to him about it – oh no! – you go and forge a contract and his signature allowing his best song to be given freely and with no problems to an idiot who has been gunning for him since the summer!”

 

“Yeah, well I was angry and upset,” Jools mumbles, her protestation for this not being as loud or vehement as the others.

 

“I know you were protecting me, and I’m not saying what he told you wasn’t below the belt, but do you really think the way to handle it was _that_?” Kyle says, now leaning forward towards his friend and trying to look her in the eye. “I can’t trust you now. You’re not the person I thought you were, and as far as this little trip is concerned I’m not going to be going anywhere near you unless the cameras are on.” He finishes and goes back to reading the black and white print in front of him and giving the woman her cue to leave.

 

His phone rings and the theme for the Addams Family fills the silence and he growls loudly.

 

“What Adam?” he shouts down the phone.

 

_“Are you at home?”_

 

“Dude, I’m at the airport,” he says as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.

_“Oh, you’re doing that little tour thing aren’t you?”_

 

“Yeah, just in a small country, no one’s really heard of it,” Kyle says facetiously and rolls his eyes to himself. “What do you want Ads?”

 

_“Just to let you know your baby’s mother –“_

 

“Not my baby Adam”

 

 _“Whatever, she’s moving in with mum and dad. Thought you would want to know where to send the presents your gonna bring your baby,”_ he finishes and he hangs up before the vitriol he knew would be directed at him starts to be shouted.

 

There is a loud thump as he throws the handset down on the table. He is glad in that moment that he has a protective case as he is sure the force he threw it would have caused a number of cracks. He puts his head in his hand and takes deep breaths in and out before looking up to look back at Jools and tell her to get lost.

 

When he brings his head back up, it is blue eyes behind glasses and dark hair looking back at him with concern on his face.

 

“I’m sorry,” is all Kyle says to the man, and Dan just smiles softly back and him and grabs his hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Loving comments and kudos guys - I really need to know what i'm doing right and wrong!
> 
> Hope you're enjoying x


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!
> 
> Sorry it's been a while. Been back in London for the weekend but have managed to finish this up and get it sorted for you.
> 
> As always let me know what you think xx

Chapter Five

“She’s moving in with your parents?”

 

“Apparently, according to the new family newsletter which is my brother,” Kyle says sarcastically and rolls his eyes. He relaxes his head against the head rest of his seat and turns to look at his partner.

 

Boarding the plane had been simple and they were now in business class and sitting next to each other. Kyle was secretly glad they had made up because it would have been a hellish flight to Los Angeles if they hadn’t. Especially as that would have made it two people he wasn’t talking to and that really limits the number of friends he had on the flight.

 

Charlie turns around from in front of them and kneels on the seat so he can get better access to his friend. “So why is Adam so invested in this anyway?” he asks and Dan looks at him with a look that says _‘your guess is better than ours’_.

 

“Because he’s a homophobic twat head with no conscience?” Kyle asks as his best guess. Charlie laughs loudly in agreement. “Screw them. I’ve told them god knows how many times that baby isn’t mine, but do they listen? We’ll do DNA when it comes out and that’ll prove it,” he finishes grumpily and folds his arms with a frown.

 

“You’re certain it’s not yours?” Jools interrupts from behind them and automatically she gets three sets of male eyes glaring at her both over the seats and through the cracks in the centre of them.

 

“Seriously?” Charlie asks her with narrowing eyes and a snort. “Wishful thinking over there Jools?”  he adds nastily, and that earns him a look from Dan.

 

“Charlie, dude,” he admonishes and the man just rolls his eyes and sits back down next to Sharon to ignore the rest of the conversation. Dan turns himself round to look more fully at the woman. “No, he really isn’t the father. I trust he never did anything with the girl,” he tells her calmly.

 

“Shouldn’t have had to ask that anyway,” Kyle mutters loudly for Jools to hear.

 

“Kyle, I know your history mate, I wouldn’t be your friend if I didn’t ask,” she bites back acidly.

 

“I was a kid!” Kyle bites back quickly and Dan puts his hand on his thigh to try and calm him down before he launches himself over the back of the chair to attack the girl.

 

“Sit down, open this, and watch this,” Dan orders him calmly, hands him his bottle of diet coke to drink and then taps on the screen to queue up Hunt for the Wilderpeople for Kyle to watch for the fiftieth time.

 

“I’m not a child,” he grumbles and Dan just raises an eyebrow at him.

 

Kyle goes to unscrew the bottle of coke and it fizzes and explodes immediately. There is a loud scream from behind him as the liquid hits Jools full force in the face, and Kyle immediately has to bite back a laugh at the sound and site. Will sitting next to the girl gets a very slight shower and stares at the younger man, and Kyle catches his eye and mouths a silent sorry at him, before turning back round to watch the movie. Dan is looking at him full on now.

 

Kyle can see the playful glint in the singer’s eye as he leans forward and whispers in his ear; “then why do you insist on acting like one?” and he then bites his earlobe forcefully. Kyle flicks his eyes over to him quickly with the action and Dan mimes putting his headphones in.

 

\---

They land in LA nearly twelve hours later and they all feel ready to head to the hotel and sleep off their jet lag before the concert the following evening, but they have to stand in the queue for customs for an hour, before picking up their luggage and heading out to the car that was waiting for them.

 

As soon as Dan walks through the double doors into the arrivals hall there was screaming from nearly every direction. Internally he cringes at the thought of all of the fans wanting to see him, but he feels Kyle grab onto his hand next him on the trolley with their bags and immediately feels more ready to face what was coming.

 

They spend another half an hour with the fans, taking pictures and retrieving posters and presents they had been waiting to give to them. Most of the fans are girls and teenagers and most of them want photos with Kyle or Dan on their own.

 

When two girls finally come up to them to ask for a picture of the four of them together, they arrange themselves so they are not standing next to each other, but have their hands on each other’s shoulders so that at least they are still touching.

 

The girl between the man – a young, slim brunette with olive skin and dark eyes, wearing short denim shorts and a white halter neck – looks up at Dan and just says snarkily; “Can you not touch each other? We don’t want people to know we like a gay band,” and then she smiles prettily at the camera as the flash goes off and she disappears off laughing and chatting with her friend before Dan and Kyle even comprehends what she has said to them.

 

“Oh my god!” Dan says, completely gobsmacked and stares at his fiancé.

 

“What did she say to you?” Woody asks conversationally as he wanders over to the two of them.

 

“Nothing, being a bi-“ Kyle stops quickly, suddenly realising exactly where he was and how many fans were standing around. “Oh, er, uhm…lets just go yeah?” he finishes clearly not knowing exactly how to describe the girl who had run away from them.

 

They manage to pull Will away from a group of girls who had attached themselves to him and walk out to try and find their driver, helpfully standing a bit away from them with a handwritten sign saying _‘Bastille’_ on it.

 

Jools was already in the large black people carrier by the time all the boys reached it and she was chatting in the front with Sharon. As Charlie gets in, he kisses his girlfriend quickly before finding a seat further at the back.

 

“You not wanting to meet the fans mate?” Kyle asks as he passes and claps her on the shoulder.

 

“Er, what watch teenage girls prettier than me hit on my hunk of a boyfriend? No thanks,” she jokes lightly and Charlie snorts in the back. Everyone knows that he has never had eyes for anyone else since he met the girl.

 

“Suck it up lady, if I have to do it, you do to,” Kyle replies quickly with a smile. He looks at Dan from the corner of his eye and sees the flush of red creep up his neck.

 

“Sorry for interrupting, but we have to get to the radio station for this interview,” Jools says from the front seat.

 

“Yeah, fair enough,” Woody says and slams the sliding door of the vehicle shut so the driver can get them on their way.

 

The van is relatively silent as the group get used to their bearings again. Dan waits for his phone to connect to the local mobile network and see if he had had any messages since he had been out of touch. A few beeps come from the man to his right and he hooks his chin over Kyle’s shoulder to see what he was doing.

 

“Anything exciting?” he asks when his movement doesn’t get any acknowledgement from the man.

 

“Nah, just boring shit. Just checking out the photos on twitter,” Kyle tells him and then puts his arm around the older man’s shoulders and hugs him close into his side so he can see the photos too.

 

“Wow, Daniel didn’t know you were so into looking pictures of yourself!” Sharon exclaims from the seat in front of him and he chuckles at her.

 

“He stalks to see what people say about him and then he panics for hours afterwards,” Will pipes up. “It’s exhausting really,” he adds and ruffles Dan’s hair from behind him, and the singer tries to swat his hand away. Kyle shoots him a filthy look over his shoulder and that stops him.

 

“Oh look,” Dan says and points out the picture of the two of them with the two girls.

 

Kyle clicks into the comments on the picture as it had already had a number as they had tagged both of them in it.

 

“See, no touching, they aren’t gay”

 

Said the caption of the photo and this was the reason it had led to so many comments.

 

Kyle and Dan both look at each other and just roll their eyes at each other. They are interrupted by an alert from Dan’s handset, so he unlocks it and has a quick look to find a message sitting on his phone from Lucian. He doesn’t have time to reply however, as the car pulls up alongside the kerb and next to a large sandstone building.

 

Almost immediately the door is yanked open and the guys fall out one by one. Jools has made her way inside and the rest of the wander through the heavy glass revolving doors and up to the large modern metal reception desk.

 

“Welcome to WPK-973, can I help you?” the young, traditionally handsome man says to Jools with a toothy smile made up of almost gleaming white teeth. The smile accentuated his already chiselled jawline and both Jools and Sharon flush brightly. Kyle looks over at Charlie and tries to join him in a joint eye roll, but notices how the younger man steps forward to protectively cover his girlfriend.

 

“Oh yes,” Jools recovers quickly and steps further towards the desk to speak to the man, “This is Bastille and they have an interview booked for this afternoon?”

 

“OK, do you have the name of the person you are due to see?” he asks and Jools starts sorting through paperwork and emails she had printed off ready for the trip.

 

The rest of the band – minus Charlie who was now stuck so close to Sharon like he had been dipped in Superglue – started walking towards the large seating area. The vestibule had a large ceiling that seemed to stretch all the way to the top of the building, and all the different floors could be seen from the ground level. Large canvasses adorned the wall covered in splashes of abstract art of different colours.

 

They were all quiet and trying to mentally prepare their exhausted brains for the upcoming interview when a tall, slim blond woman comes floating down the stairs towards them. She was wearing stiletto heels – with the red shoes and even Dan knew these were expensive – a skin tight white dress with multi-coloured flowers printed on it causing her tanned skin to glow despite the murky autumn weather outside.

 

“Hi there! I’m Ruby, and I’m gonna be one of your interviewers! You must be Dan?” she says with an incredibly thick west coast American accent and sticks her hand out to the singer.

 

Dan looks at Kyle from the corner of his eye, slightly scared by the woman’s confidence, but all the younger man does is shake his head and give a small shrug.  Dan takes her hand and shakes it, and only just manages to contain a small shudder as she gives him one of the limpest handshakes he has had the misfortune to encounter. He pulls his hand away speedily.

 

“Yeah, that’s me” he replies quickly. “This is…” he starts to say, but he is cut off by the woman giving her hand a wave before walking briskly towards a bank of lifts on one wall.

 

“We can do the introductions upstairs in the studio,” she says to him and ignores the rest of the men.

 

Kyle follows behind her and desperately restrains himself from standing on the heels of her shiny, black shoes.

 

“I can only take you and your band upstairs though, so can you leave your roadies down here?” and as she says this, Kyle feels even more annoyance flare up inside him for his brother and the two girls; even Jools.

 

They get into the studio and file in one by one to take their seats – Dan first, followed by Kyle, then Woody and finally Will. Almost as if the two troublemakers were being flanked by the more responsible of the group. They all put on their headphones and notice they are all to share a microphone, obviously having to hand off to whoever was meant to be answering the questions.

 

“Hi guys! I’m Brad and you’ve already met Ruby,” an older guy says to them.

 

The man is in his early forties and has slightly greying hair on top of a friendly face and beer belly covered in a flashy Hawaiian shirt and jeans. Dan takes in the sight in front of him and realises he looks a lot like the majority of DJ’s he had met over the years. It was the clearly overdressed woman next to him that was making him feel the most uncomfortable. He suddenly notices the ‘On Air’ light flick to red behind the man and the guy starts talking again.

 

“So that was Taylor Swift’s new song, gonna be a huge hit I think! Anyway, we’ve had some guys join us in the studio – Bastille have just flown into LAX and come in to see us!” the man says excitedly and starts to introduce each gun individually – managing to give each name to the right person.

 

They talk about the tour for a while and Dan does his normal of deflecting every question he possibly could about himself and his writing process. Will and Woody help him out by making some sarcastic comments and jokes when they can see Dan getting far too uncomfortable with the personal questions and Kyle sits quietly until he is talked to or something random pops into his head. That is until the questions turn to him.

 

“So, Kyle, you’ve had an interesting month or so haven’t you?” the man says suddenly and Kyle looks up at him, confused for a moment until he realises the question had been asked.

 

“Uhm, yeah, I suppose yeah,” he replies non commitally.

 

“So you had a pretty bad accident, is everything back to normal now?” Ruby pipes up and looks at him curiously.

 

“Pretty much. Had my cast removed at the weekend. Head is back to normal. Thought I could get away with the excuse of the accident not to watch Twin Peaks again, but apparently that’s not a good enough excuse for this one,” he adds and shoulders into the singer, who just laughs at him.

 

“Oh, I never took you for a Twin Peaks fan,” the woman states and Kyle’s eyes go wide and he stares at her before his jaw drops open.

 

“We have a song called Laura Palmer,” Dan pipes up and interrupts matter of factly, and Kyle nods quickly along with Woody and Will smirks in the back.

 

“Oh, well it’s something that I never really go into,” Ruby adds again and with that Dan seizes an opening to talk about anything that wasn’t him.

 

“No it’s awesome! Stick with it, the humour is amazing and the way it was filmed was ground breaking,” he starts and Kyle interrupts with a cough.

 

“If you want this interview to finish on time, you might want to change the subject,” he says with a knowing look to Brad.

 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Dan says, feigning hurt at his lover and Kyle just looks at him with a bemused look. “Kyle likes to pretend he doesn’t like it, he loves it really,” he adds.

 

“Dude, your ring tone freaks me the hell out every time I hear it,” Kyle argues and there was a silence between the two of them.

 

“Sorry, apparently lovers spat going on here,” Woody intervenes.

 

“Hang on, is it you who keeps changing my ringtone?” Dan looks gobsmacked as he says it, not quite believing he hadn’t cottoned on earlier.

 

“Mate it wasn’t gonna be Woody when he hadn’t been near you in days, was it?”

 

“Err, anyway, last question really,” Brad says to them. “We have a question in over text from one of your fans. Oh, erm this seems a bit strange. But it’s for Kyle,” the DJ stops what he says and looks over at the blond who just nods furiously indicating that, yes he was to ask it. The man clearly is uncomfortable with asking the questions, so Ruby sighs.

 

“This listener wants to know what the deal is with your baby Kyle, and when is it due?”

 

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> A little bit of a shorter chapter tonight...I know i'm sorry!
> 
> Let me know if you enjoy x

Chapter Six

“What the actual fuck dude?” Kyle shouts loudly to no one when he manages to escape the confines of the studio. He can hear the interview still going on inside and Woody and Will are trying desperately to make light of the revelation.

 

“Mate, baby? He _is_ still a baby! Can you imagine him with one?”

 

“Yeah, I pity any child that ends up with Kyle with a dad,” Will slips in and they both laugh and manage to change the subject to a funny story about a kid related to Woody.

 

Kyle looks through the studio window and sees Dan looking back at him, a picture of concern and worry on his face. The younger man chews at his thumb nail for a moment and then decides he has to go back in and face the music. He opens the door and at the click of it shutting, the interviewers look up at him. The girl has a look of joy on her face when she realises he has come back in to answer the question.

 

“Sorry about that guys,” he apologises as he sits down again. “Bad curry on the flight,” he adds. “What were you asking? _Baby?”_

 

“Yeah, there’s rumours flying around the internet that you have one on the way, is that right?” the blond asks, almost a wicked smile now gracing her features – making her appear a lot uglier than she should. Kyle smiles back at her widely.

 

“I dunno? Honey is there anything you want to tell me?” He asks and looks at Dan with a cheeky glint in his eye.

 

“Er, no! I have not managed to become a medical marvel overnight,” Dan replies smoothly and Kyle turns back to the radio presenter.

 

“So, no mini Simmons-Smith on the way I’m afraid,” he says to her almost apologetically. “Anyway, I’m an old fashioned girl. I need to be married before any of that family stuff,” he tells her and forcefully kisses his fiancé’s cheek – loud enough that even the listeners knew what the noise would be.

 

“Why would it be Simmons-Smith?” Dan suddenly asks.

 

“Huh?” Kyle asks with a perplexed look on his face.

 

“Why wouldn’t it be Smith-Simmons? Why does your name have to come first?” Dan asks more forcefully.

 

“That’s the first thing you think of?” Kyle looks incredulous at his partner who just shrugs back at him.

 

“Anyway, so back to the shows you have coming up then!” Brad says loudly trying to get the attention back to them.

 

And with the mission accomplished, Dan and Kyle gives each other a knowing look and relax back into their chairs. They let the others answer the questions for a while.

 

Kyle keeps flicking his eyes up to Ruby and something starts to feel very off about her and her attitude towards them all. She is clearly flirting with Dan, but that wasn’t the problem. She looked and seemed so familiar and the man could not put his finger on why.

 

The rest of the interview goes without a hitch and soon they are all leaving and shaking hands with Brad. Ruby ignores them all except for Dan; and she fawns all over him and his brilliance as he passes her. In order to head her off at the pass, Dan grabs Kyle’s hand and, in a totally out of character move, he yanks him backwards and crashes their lips together solidly and in a passionate embrace.

 

Kyle pulls away after a few moments. He looks totally confused and dazed as he just turns and follows his band mates, almost walking into a column he passes on the way.

 

“See you around Ruby,” he says to the blond and saunters off after the rest of them with a smirk on his face. He didn’t even have to turn back to know the girl was throwing daggers at him.

 

\---

The lift door slides open in front of them and all four walk out in silence and move over towards the seating area where the other three members of their group were sitting.  Jools has her headphones on and sees them as they walk towards her.

 

“Well that was a fucking shit storm!” Kyle says angrily and looks directly at the woman. “You’re meant to be working on our image dude! What the fuck was all that about?” he storms up to her and starts pushing his index finger into her shoulder as he shouts.

 

“Hey, hey, hey! Take your hands off of me Kyle Jonathon Simmons!” the woman stands up and starts to move towards him to try and intimidate the younger man. “How the hell was I meant to know they would bring that up?”

 

“Oh, I dunno? Maybe by doing your fucking job?” he shouts back. “You get online and at least look at our tags! When Dan has to make up a fucking fake profile and do it himself, maybe that should be a fucking clue Einstein!” and with that he storms outside with a loud growl which echoed through the vestibule.

 

Out on the pavement, the sun is shining, but the air is fresh and cold. It’s still warmer than back in London, so Kyle doesn’t care that he only has a t-shirt on. He kicks at a stone on the ground in front of him and huffs another loud noise of frustration.

 

He knew that this would come out at some point, but the question really had blind-sided him. Dan had been keeping an eye on Laura’s twitter account and hardly anyone had said anything about the baby at all. In Kyle’s head, the whole thing was an elaborate – and very late – April Fool’s joke on him and he was just hoping and praying for the day someone would jump out at him and yell ‘surprise’. More and more he was starting to think that they would be yelling that for an entirely different reason.

 

He knew in his heart that he had not cheated on Dan in those days leading up to the accident, but until he recalled absolutely everything about them, he was still absolutely petrified that something had happened and he was about to be a father.

 

“Fuck sake, I need to destress,” he mutters to himself and is presented with an open packet of cigarettes.

 

His eyes run up the arm and into the blue eyes of his friend standing in front of him.

 

“How the fuck did you know we were here?” Kyle asks the man with a smirk.

 

“The car crash radio interview helped, I must admit,” Lucian tells him and smiles.

 

“I quit,” Kyle tells him and the man shrugs and puts the packet in his back pocket, before pulling the taller man into a hug and kissing him on the cheek.

 

“I like the shorter beard,” he says and Kyle gives him a side eye that would kill at twenty paces. “I don’t like the shorter beard?” he asks quickly, and Kyle just nods in agreement.

 

Kyle looks at his friend for a moment and takes in his appearance. He was wearing black and white converse with baggy jeans, a white checked shirt with a bow tie and a light grey leather bomber jacket. He still has his tanned skin and his dark hair is now more peppered with grey than it was the last time he had seen him.

 

“That bitch still being a problem?” the man asks and lights his own cigarette and sits down on a stone ledge below one of the large glass windows.

 

“Ha! Which one?” Kyle jokes back and steals the cigarette out of the man’s hand to take a long draw and then hands it back to him.

 

“Well I’m sure those are exciting stories, but I meant your ‘baby mama’,” and he actually puts the air quotes around the words to let Kyle know that he was being facetious. Kyle gives him another bitch face.

 

“We didn’t know it had gotten out,” he sighs and puts his head in his hands. “Oh and she’s moving in with my parents,” he adds almost as an afterthought. Lucian just raises his eyebrows and smiles drily before taking a long drag.

 

“Don’t hit me, but…”

 

“No it’s not mine…at least I don’t think it is,” he finally admits out loud for the first time, and the other man stays quiet. “There are three days I _do not_ remember no matter what I do, and I can’t be certain nothing happened then,” he tells the man and Lucian throws his arm around his shoulder and pulls him into his side.

 

“You said anything to Dan?” he says finally and Kyle shakes his head. “You need to talk to him.”

 

“I can’t. He trusts me too much. And he’s too good a man for me to yank and dick around like this,” Kyle admits again, finally saying out loud that he believes Dan is too good for him.

 

“Oh, man,” he says back and places a soft kiss on his forehead. “He’s not too good for you, you know,” he tries to clarify and Kyle chuckles darkly.

 

“What the hell? Kyle are you serious right now?” an angry Jools suddenly explodes through the door and confronts him. Kyle and Lucian stay in exactly the same position and don’t even attempt to move at all.

 

“What?” he finally asks and looks thoroughly over having his ex-best friend with them on tour, and it was only day one. “Oh,” he says, as if he has just realised what she means. “Jools, Lucian, Lucian, Jools. Lucian is a good friend of mine and Dan’s, and Jools is the nightmare of a PA that Dan hired and someone who used to be my best friend,” he says snarkily and doesn’t even move to look at the woman.

 

“Oh, hey,” the older man says and looks at Kyle holding out the end of the cigarette. “You want the rest of this?” Kyle shakes his head so Lucian stubs it out and throws it into the bin handily next to them before putting his hand out to shake Jools’ hand.

 

“Oh my god!” comes an excited cry from the door and the grey-haired man’s arms are filled with six foot of singer, and he is almost launched off balance with the force of him.

 

“Daniel, hello!” Lucian says and kisses him full force on the mouth quickly and pulls away. Jools stares at them all with her mouth open.

 

“As I said, good friend,” Kyle explains and ignores the stuttering coming from her.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright guys, so going for something a little different tonight. Let me know what you think!

Chapter Seven

Kyle walks into the hotel room and takes in the sight in front of him. On the large super king sized bed, his partner and best friend was lying on his front, jogging bottoms and a loose t-shirt on and just his socked feet. For the first time in a long time he had his notebook out and was scribbling something furiously down on the paper in front of him.

 

Dan still had his glasses on, but he was bent down so close to the book on the bed that he had pushed them up so they were resting on top of his head and was biting down on his thumb as he tried to think of the most appropriate next line for the lyrics he had been writing. Kyle drank the entire vision in and it made his heart fell lighter just by looking at it.

 

He walks over to the bed and puts a knee either side of the older man until he is straddling the backs of his legs. He starts to knead into the flesh of Dan’s shoulders and the singer finally pays him some attention when he looks up at him over his shoulder.

 

Dan makes a particularly heated groaning noise when Kyle reaches one particular spot and flips himself over underneath him before dragging him forward by his t-shirt and filthily licking into his mouth – desperate to taste the man he loved. Kyle grabs the singer’s face with both hands and starts to lick and kiss down the side of his neck, finally moving his hands to run underneath the man’s long sleeved t-shirt. He makes a moan himself when he finds himself touching the skin that no one but him ever got to see.

 

Loud knocking causes them to stop what they are doing, but not pull away from each other. When Dan calls for the person to come in, both men are still hooked around each other like a human pretzel.

 

“Did we interrupt?” Charlie asks with a smirk as he walks through the pine coloured door with his girlfriend and Jools trailing after him.

 

“What the fuck do you think?” Kyle asks aggressively. “You’re lucky you’re now family,” he adds and Dan claps him on the back of the head lightly for being rude.

 

“So plans for this evening?” Sharon asks, trying to change the subject. “Will and Woody are sleeping off the jet lag. You got any exciting plans?”

 

“Er, well Lucian suggested a club, but I don’t know if everyone will be up for it,” Dan offers and looks a bit embarrassed at bringing it up.

 

 “Oh. Well if _Lucian_ thinks it’s a good idea,” Kyle hears Jools mumbling from the corner of the room, but chooses to ignore it. Sharon looks at her, clearly confused.

 

“Club sounds good, dancing and music and stuff,” Charlie says and puts his arms around his girl tightly.

 

“Yeah, no, more like Cabaret? Entertainment, some comedy?” Kyle informs them.

 

“Even better,” Sharon says and looks over at her shoulder at Charlie lovingly. “Do we have to dress up?”

 

“Not dressy, but not a gang member?” Dan says to them, and Sharon looks at him studiously, before just nodding her head, completely understanding what he was saying to her.

 

“Jools, you gonna come?” the teen asks the older woman.

 

“Please say no, please say no,” Kyle chants under his breath so only Dan can hear him.

 

He almost punches the bed when she replies in the affirmative.

 

“Yeah, why not? We leave in the next forty minutes?” she says looking at her watch for the time and Kyle’s head lands on Dan’s shoulder as he pities himself.

 

“Amazing, see you downstairs then,” the singer agrees and rubs calm circles on Kyle’s back to try and soothe him as much as he can.

 

\---

“Why? Why do I have to be around her constantly, huh?” Kyle demands as they stand hand in hand in the lift waiting for it to speed them down towards the lobby.

 

“Because we employ her and she has to help me out?” Dan tells him calmly.

 

“But she does fuck all!” Kyle argues back loudly.

 

“Ky…calm down,” the singer tells him and kisses him softly on the mouth and stares intently into his warm brown eyes.

 

They had both managed to scrub up nicely in the short time they had been given. Dan’s hair was sitting perfectly and he had managed to get his contacts back into his tired eyes for the evening. He was wearing his normal jeans with his long sleeved black t-shirt on. Kyle had put on his red and white checked shirt over his white t-shirt with the skull made up of cat faces on the front.

 

“Your fucking lucky you’re cute, you know that?” Kyle concedes quickly at the touch and the look.

 

“Yup, so people keep telling me,” he says sarcastically as the lift arrives at its destination and they spill out of the enclosed space.

 

“Ahhhhhh, you did decide you were going to join us then,” Woody says to an angry glare from Kyle.

 

“Shut up drummer boy,” Kyle says to him and Woody clutches his chest to feign hurt.

 

“Words hurt man,” he says to him sarcastically.

 

“Ignore him, he’s in a bad mood,” Dan says to them all and he in turn gets a glare from the man. “See,” he adds at the look.

 

“Where are we off to then?” Will asks and they all head out to get into a mini van taxi which Will had had the foresight to book when he had found out they were headed out.

 

“Akbar?” Dan says to the driver and is given a strange look by the guy.

 

“You sure? You know what kind of club that is yeah?” he asks and appeared genuinely concerned for the British tourists he was ferrying.

 

“Yeah, mate of mine is part owner, I’m sure,” Dan says and the door slides shut and they are quiet and listening to the evening music on the driver’s radio station of choice. Little Mix starts to play and Kyle squeezes onto his partner’s hand when he notices how stock still the man has gotten.

 

“Didn’t know these girls had made it out here?” Will says conversationally to the driver, and the guy looks back over his shoulder at the well-spoken man.

 

“Oh yeah, they just brought this song out. They look awesome in the video if you know what I mean!” the guy replies lewdly.

 

“They are following me everywhere!” Dan murmurs into Kyle’s ear, almost frantically.

 

“It’s fine, you’re gonna be fine! Lucian and me, we’ll take your mind off it all alright?” Kyle says and Dan starts to try some deep breathing exercises to keep his anxiety in check. Kyle shoots a look over to Jools who had been watching the interaction and scowls.

 

They pull up after another four songs outside a building on a corner. It had a small unassuming sign saying the name of the bar above the door and two members of door security on the door. The queue went all the way down the street and there was an obvious rainbow flag over the door to show the bar was gay friendly.

 

All of the group jump out of the van and Woody just looks at the place.

 

“Gay bar?” and at the nod of Kyle’s head he adds; “Cool.”

 

It takes about fifteen minutes while Dan gets hold of Lucian and he comes bounding outside with his normal amount of energy and hugs everyone whether they want to be hugged or not. He hadn’t been introduced to everyone before, so Dan made quick work of the introductions and they head towards the front door and past all of the waiting customers who booed as they walked past.

 

They walk into a large front room with a Moroccan themed bar at the side with bar stools and the entire space was taken up with bodies of customers, with hips moving seductively to the music. There were a surprising number of women in the club as well as men and Kyle could see at least two hen parties going on at the same time as the passed through.

 

They made their way into the back room which was slightly smaller with a stage set up at one end. The name of the club had been spray painted onto the wall behind the stage and there was a bejewelled curtain tied up at either side of the stage. A microphone and small keyboard setup was also on the stage and Kyle admired the set as he passed to a large table reserved for them in the corner. The room was brighter than the front room and was clearly set up for a performer of some sort.

 

“So who are we here to see?” Jools asks suddenly trying to make some conversation with the man who was hosting them.

 

“Well some of my songs will be played tonight, and the reason it’s heaving is because of who is performing,” Lucian explains.

 

“Ru?” Dan asks and Lucian just nods in agreement.

 

“Thought you would want to see what you helped create?”

 

“Amazing!” Dan says enthusiastically, and Lucian gives him and Kyle chaste mouth kisses before disappearing off and getting their drinks for them.

 

“Why do you let him do that?” Jools asks them, but mainly directs the question at Dan, knowing she wasn’t going to get an answer from Kyle.

 

“He’s just…Lucian,” is all Dan can tell her as if that in itself is a good enough reason not to push him away when he kisses them.

 

“He’s not gonna try that with the rest of us is he?” Charlies asks, suddenly worried about his heterosexuality.

 

“Wouldn’t have thought so, Charlo, don’t worry,” his brother tells him. “We’ve all got…history?” and he looks at Dan for confirmation.

 

“Alright, too much information now,” Will interrupts and starts to sip at his drink that had been delivered by a half dressed, but very muscular member of bar staff.

 

Sharon starts to visibly drool at the sight and Jools isn’t being too careful about the lustful looks she is sending the man’s way.

 

“One, he’s probably gay and two aren’t you in a relationship?” Kyle says to her pointedly and she flushes at the statement.

 

“Hey we can look right?” Sharon says to the man, and then looks at Charlie. “Right?” she says to him and he just raises his eyebrows.

 

“Kyle, can me and you talk quickly?” the man says to his half-brother and Kyle just looks a bit shocked, but agrees as they stand and disappear back off to the bar.

 

“Did I do something wrong?” Sharon asks and Dan watches after the two of them and then looks back at the girl, completely unaware of what to say.

 

The remaining group start to chat about the plan for the following day, and before they realise, the lights are going down and a voice starts to come out of the speakers on the stage. Dan looks around again for Kyle to see if he was on his way back at all, but there was no sign of his fiancé.

 

_“Ladies and gentleman, thank you for coming to visit Akbar tonight! Before the main event, a gentleman visiting tonight has asked if he can do a special performance for a special lady, so please let’s give him a special round of applause,”_ and Dan recognised the speaker as Lucian and he looks around himself again to look for Kyle and Charlie.

 

A spotlight appears on stage, and sitting on a normal leather bar stool was Charlie Barnes. He was still in his jeans, white t-shirt and suit jacket, but around his neck was an acoustic guitar and he starts to strum and then he starts to sing.

 

_What day is it_   
_And in what month_   
_This clock never seemed so alive_   
_I can't keep up and I can't back down_   
_I've been losing so much time_

_Cause there's you and me_   
_And of all people with nothing to do_   
_Nothing to lose_   
_And there's you and me_   
_And of all other people_   
_And I don't know why_   
_I can't keep my eyes off of you_

As the chorus finishes, another light comes on and Kyle is standing behind the keys and is chiming in with well-placed backing chords and some string sounds to make the song sound deeper and more intense. Throughout it all, the man in the centre of the stage continues to sing and stare intently at Sharon like she is the only person in the room. Dan can see the tears forming in her eyes as he continues.

 

_What are the things That I want to say_   
_Just aren't coming out right_   
_I'm tripping on words_   
_You got my head spinning_   
_I don't know where to go from here_

_Cause there's you and me_   
_And of all other people with nothing to do_   
_Nothing to prove_   
_And there's you and me_   
_And of all other people_   
_And I don't know why_   
_I can't keep my eyes off of you_

_Something about you now_   
_That I can't quite figure out_   
_Everything she does is beautiful_   
_Everything she does is right_

_Cause there's you and me and all of the people with nothing to do_   
_Nothing to lose_   
_And there's you and me and all of the people_   
_And I don't know why_   
_I can't keep my eyes off of you and me_   
_And all other people with nothing to do_   
_Nothing to prove_   
_And there's you and me and all other people_   
_And I don't know why_   
_I can't keep my eyes off of you_

_What day is it_   
_And in what month_   
_This clock never seemed so alive_

The music ends and there is still silence in the room as the spotlight continues to focus on the man and he walks slowly over to the girl at the table. He takes her hand and then drops to one knee in front of her.

 

“Sharon, when we met I never thought I would have found the one girl in all the world I would want to share my forever with. We’ve been through some crap together, but through it all we’ve always had each other. Will you marry me?”

 

“Fuck,” Dan breathes to himself. “The romance is fucking genetic!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Lucian doesn't own Akbar, but you know, all for a story right?
> 
> And the song that Charlie sings is:  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac3HkriqdGQ
> 
> And thought that the song that Little Mix would probably try and hit America first with would be:  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBAfejjUQoA
> 
> Anyway, as always, let me know! xx


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello you lot!
> 
> Sorry, it's been a bad week this week. Ended up with my hand strapped up for most of it, but it is back in working order now and ready and raring to go!!
> 
> Have this chapter as an apology.
> 
> As always, comments - good and bad - are always welcome xx

Chapter Eight

The door flies open and is slammed shut as the two boys crash through it, slightly worse for wear after a night of drinking and celebrating with their friends.  Dan is slammed against the closed door and Kyle pins both of his arms straight above his head with one hand and then attacks his mouth ravenously as if he had been starved of it.

 

“How long…” _kiss._ “Have you…” _kiss._ “known…about…” _kiss._

Kyle stops what he is doing and looks at his partner questioningly.

 

“Mate are you serious right now?” he asks him, clearly annoyed with having to stop. Dan takes in his dishevelled appearance and his messy hair, and actually giggles at the sight.

 

“Nope, you’re right,” he says and wrenches one hand free and grabs the younger man’s hair and pulls his head back to his neck. “Keep going,” he adds.

 

Dan decides the door isn’t the direction he wants this to go in, so suddenly Kyle is surprised to be walked backwards towards the bed still attached by their lips, but Dan is desperately and drunkenly trying to undo the belt and buttons of the taller man’s jeans at the same time. Kyle feels the bed at the back of his legs, and Dan almost expertly switches them so he is now the one against it, and he automatically drops his jeans and bends over then end of it, waving his arse enticingly at his fiancé.

 

Kyle groans at the wanton sight, and when the singer looks over his shoulder at him and bites coyly at his bottom lip, it was all he could do not to explode then and there.

 

“Fuck, you look so amazing right now,” he moans and moves up to him to start trying to prepare the man the way he always does.

 

That was when he noticed the small black plug that was sitting snugly at the man’s entrance and the noise that comes from his throat is more porn star than anything else.

 

“When the fuck did you do that?” he asks him incredulously and he runs his long fingers over the end to feel the silicone sitting just at the entrance.

 

“Before we went out,” he answers with a smirk, and gets another groan from Kyle. “Kyle, I’m kind of waiting here?” he adds with a wink.

 

The man grabs the end of the black plug and twists it to loosen it, and draws the most wanton sounds from his fiancé, and that makes his already hard dick more solid. He slowly removes the toy, pumping it in and out again twice for effect and revels in the new noises it draws from the singer.

 

He slicks up his cock and lines it up against the gaping hole now visible and waiting for him. He slides in easily and the familiar wet heat envelops him. He can’t ever get used to the feeling of completeness that he always feels when he does this with his lover.

 

Underneath him, Dan squeezes his eyes tight at the pure bliss he feels at the familiar movement. All noises escape him as he feels full again, but in a completely different way from the impersonal piece of plastic that had just been pulled out of him. It is like he was made to surround this man and Kyle was created to fill him up and no one else will ever make him feel this way.

 

“Move Kyle!” Dan gasps out and with that Kyle starts to thrust in and out of Dan with abandon. There is no slow working up to it and Kyle – from plenty of practice – already knows the perfect position and angle to strike Dan’s prostate from the start.

 

Neither of them will last long, in fact they had drunk so much both of them were surprised they were able to do this at all, but the constant pistoning of the taller man’s hips into the singer and also with Kyle gripping and stripping Dan’s cock from the moment he had entered him means they are racing toward ecstasy faster than normal.

 

Dan can feel his balls tightening and the heat pooling in his stomach. He starts to come with a long moan and Kyle feels his muscles tightening around his own cock, riding him over the edge himself.

 

After another hour of sloppy shared kisses in the shower and finally getting themselves cleaned up, the two of them are still basking in their afterglow as they lie on their shared bed in only their underwear.

 

Kyle was wearing his favourite black Moschino trunks with the teddy bear heads on the waist band and Dan had pulled on his dark petrol blue HOM underwear with the vibrant yellow and blue waistband. When he had pulled them out of his bag, Kyle had raised an eyebrow at him.

 

“Wow, your monochromatic image is destroyed if that photo ever got out,” he says and snaps a quick photo of his fiancé on his phone with a fake look of shock on his face – as if he had no idea how that had happened. Dan just looks unimpressed at him.

 

“You bought me these,” he says quietly and Kyle’s eyes go wide at the admission as Dan walks over to the bed.

 

Kyle grabs him by the waist and pulls him into a massive embrace and kisses his forehead.

 

“Aw! Babes!” is all he says, and this is how they ended up arm in arm, with Dan watching a video on his lover’s phone.

 

_The camera is shaky as Kyle steps out from behind the keyboards and down off of the stage and the viewer can see the table of the band get closer. The camera swings around and focuses on everyone at the table, starting at Dan in order to get their reactions. Dan shoots him an excited look with his eyes wide, mouth open and a massive grin. Will gives the camera a double thumbs up and Woody starts to bow at Charlie’s feet chanting, ‘we are not worthy’ over and over._

_The camera stops on Jools who just looks at the camera dumbstruck. Will nudges her in the side and Kyle keeps the handset on her as the bassist whispers something in her ear. The woman just gives a small thumbs up and smiles at the lens. He finishes on the happy couple who are hugging and the blond is admiring the pretty big rock Charlie had bought for her._

“So are you going to post this?” Dan asks as the video finishes and he hands the handset back to Kyle.

 

“Was maybe gonna let them tell families first? Y’know, before announcing it to thousands of people?” and Dan laughs at the comment.

 

Kyle looks at him again, and admires how the singer’s hair is now plastered to his forehead after their shower, and is suddenly struck by how adorable the man is.

 

“I love you, you know that right?” he says suddenly and Dan looks quizzically at him. “Just, I don’t say it a lot and y’know, we’re not super touchy feely around everyone, and I just want you to know that…”

 

“Ky, what the fuck are you actually talking about?” Dan interrupts. “After everything we’ve been through, you think I doubt your feelings? It would be fucking easier to bugger off and never see me again, but you haven’t and I love you for it!” and to punctuate the end of his argument, he pulls the younger man towards him and kisses him sweetly and softly.

 

\---

After falling asleep at three in the morning, neither man was happy when the loud knocking at the door wakes them up at half past nine later that morning.

 

Kyle drags himself out of bed and walks like a zombie towards the sound. He yanks the door open and finds their trusty sound guy standing in front of him. Coop bursts out laughing at the sight of Kyle’s hair in fifty different directions and huge bags under his eyes.

 

“Long night?” he asks and pushes past him and makes himself at home on Kyle side of the bed. Dan rolls over and looks at him just as angrily. “What? It’s a big enough bed,” he replies to the singer and pulls two cans of Red Bull out of his jacket and gives one to each of them.

 

“This helps,” Kyle says monosyllabically and gets a wink from the man.

 

“So I take it you never saw what blew up your fans last night then?” he asks them conversationally after each of them had cracked open the can and drunk most of it in one gulp. Now looking a bit more with it, Dan sits up in the bed and Kyle climbs behind him and settles the singer in between his legs. Both men look confused and shake their heads.

 

“Oh, did Charlie’s proposal break?” Dan asks him and Coop just looks at him, obviously not having talked to any of them the previous evening.

 

“What the hell did you guys actually do last night?” he asks, but then waves off the questions before pulling out his own phone and loading up twitter. “So these videos got posted on YouTube, some sort of country Acapella competition or something like that,” he explains and Kyle feels a sinking in his stomach.

 

Coop loads up the video and it starts playing. Kyle’s fears come to life when he recognises immediately the back of his brother standing in front of one of his choirs and the semi-familiar tunes start to come out of the phone speakers. It is the promised covers of Laura Palmer and Lethargy he had boasted to them both about.

 

“Oh god he actually did it,” Kyle mutters to himself and Dan is struck by the exact same wrong words the man had sung to him in the car the day he had visited to meet Charlie officially.

 

“So apparently there were a few Stormers in the crowd who made this and it is now going slightly viral on your fan’s timelines,” Coop finishes and Kyle closes his eyes quickly before leaning over to pick up his phone and noticing at least four missed calls from different members of his family.

 

“Shit,” he says and starts to scroll through them to get Adam’s name first. He didn’t get on with his brother, but this was really going to annoy him.

 

Pressing the FaceTime button, he sits and waits for the call to dial up and listens to the familiar ring tone. The tone stops and the screen is filled up with his older brother’s brown eyes and brown and grey speckled hair.

 

“Hi Adam, how are you,” Kyle asks him conversationally as he notices the severe anger on the man’s face.

 

“How the hell do you think I am? I lost that competition because of those wrong words, was laughed at in front of the whole crowd and then I find out from some of my members that it is all over social media and people are laughing at me all over the world. My day is shit,” he finishes and shouts the words down the phone at him. Kyle winces at the loudness.

 

The screen is then filled up with his sister in law’s snooty features as she looks down her nose into the camera.

 

“It’s like you don’t love your brother or something Kyle, why didn’t you tell him?”

 

“Uhm,” comes a timid voice from next to Kyle and he moves the phone so it also has Dan’s face on the screen too. “I tried to tell you that the words didn’t sound right Adam,” he reminds the man. “You weren’t too interested in hearing it,” he adds quietly.

 

Lorraine looks disgusted as she realises that both Dan and Kyle are topless and in an intimate pose and quickly hands the phone back to her husband.

 

“You didn’t say it was your song though!” Adam shouts at the singer.

 

“You weren’t exactly encouraging me to be talkative mate!” Dan starts to talk up and gets a bit louder.

 

“Whatever,” Adam says finally. “You’re going to regret this Kyle,” he says finally and hangs the phone up on the man.

 

“Add it to the tab Adam,” is all Kyle says to the blank screen and throws the phone down on the bed next to him.

 

\---

“You think I should do an Instagram Live?” Dan asks the red head, still confused about what this might accomplish.

 

They are standing on the stage in the large theatre they were playing that evening in the centre of Los Angeles. Coop was pottering around trying to get everything right for the sound check and Jools had just walked up to the singer with her new idea.

 

“Well it does a number of things. It gets you back in touch with the fans, I know you do twitter a lot and you’ve done videos in the past, but a live would be good. I could field questions and stuff. But also you could clear things up as well what with all the…rumours…going around,” as she says this she glances over to where Kyle was chatting with Charlie and the brass trio at the back of the stage waiting for the go ahead.

 

“Fine, alright,” he concedes. There are still some things for the sound crew to set up before they were able to do anything, so he supposed now was as good a time as any to start.

 

He sets up the app and gets it all ready for him to hit record. When he does he automatically switches the camera so it was trained on his face.

 

“Hello you lot,” he starts, the same way he usually does. He walks around the stage slightly and lets the camera show what was going on around him. “So we’re in LA at the moment and about to do a sound check, but thought I would check in with a few things. Everyone’s here though,” and he pans around to show Kyle and his group and the five wave at the camera, followed by Woody and then Will who was asking Jools what was going on. Dan walks to the edge of the stage and grunts as he sits down hard onto the stage with his legs hanging over the edge.

 

“God, that’s high,” he comments just loud enough for the microphone to pick up. “Anyway, this is our first date over here, and there were just a few things I wanted to say really. The first piece of news is that Charlie Barnes is officially off the market!” he says and points the camera at Charlie who is now hugging Sharon close to him as she has entered the theatre. “He proposed last night and Kyle has video so will post that later.”

 

“Uhm, there was something said yesterday on a radio interview about Kyle, and I just wanted to clear up some stuff. After Kyle’s accident he had a really bad head injury and forgot a lot of stuff – including me and the band. He has nearly all of his memories back now, but a ‘fan’ decided to take advantage of Kyle after his accident and made up a relationship with him. She’s now saying she is pregnant, but it is not Kyle’s baby. Me and Ky are fine,” he looks over his shoulder and calls to his partner, “Right Kyle?”

 

“What?” Kyle shouts back and walks over to him and settles down behind him and put his chin on the singer’s shoulder to see what he was doing. “Is this live?”

 

“Yeah. Just saying that the baby isn’t yours and that we’re fine, right?” he asks to get confirmation.

 

“Yup! Fine, brilliant, no problems here,” Kyle says quickly and joyfully and kisses Dan loudly on his cheek and this gets a wide smile from the singer.

 

Dan finishes off the video with a quick run-down of the rest of the tour dates and just adds that he will be doing this regularly before saying bye to the people watching.

 

He clicks his phone off and looks at Kyle.

 

“I really hope this doesn’t have any blow back on us,” he says and Kyle stays silent. There was nothing he could say to soothe the singer’s nerves. Every time he tried, he had been proven wrong over and over again.

 

 


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

As the men walk off the stage at the end of the gig, all of them feel exhausted. It had been a full couple of days for all of them and none of them had managed to get much rest or sleep at all.

 

They change out of sweaty clothes and get a bit more comfortable before Dan heads back out to the hall they had performed in. He stands and watches as the riggers, runners and roadies pack up the familiar stage under the watchful eye of Coop. He walks over and settles himself on the edge of the stage and hangs his legs over the side and looks out into the darkness of the empty auditorium that had – up until an hour ago – been filled with screaming and dancing fans. He sighs loudly and lets his shoulders sag.

 

“You alright mate?” Coop startles him and he jumps slightly before looking over his shoulder to see his friend standing there.

 

“Yup. Just gearing up for the next bit,” he says with a wan smile and starts to pick at the laces on his old, tattered maroon converse. They were due to get a very late flight out of LAX to Phoenix for their gig the following night and Dan was already done with the travelling.

 

“Man, you look knackered. You sure you’re up for this?” Coop asks as he sits down next to him, clearly worried for the singer.

 

“Have to be,” Dan replies with a small shrug. “Get to relax after this for a bit though. Can hardly complain, it’s not like we’ve done as much this year as we normally do.”

 

“I think long hospital stays, secret love affairs, crazed fans and a baby scare is enough to last anyone a lifetime dude,” and the sound man puts his arm around Dan’s shoulders and pulls him in for a comforting side hug.

 

“Coop! Where does this go?” comes a shout from one of the hew runners behind them, and he looks over to see what he was talking about. He finds Kyle standing behind them and he shoots the bearded man a guilty look of apology having been caught in what could be seen as a compromising position.

 

Kyle gives him a warm smile and gestures over his shoulder, letting him know he should go and see what was happening. Coop pulls away from the singer who makes a small noise of protest, but he is quickly sated when the long familiar arms of his lover replaces his friends and he buries his face in to Kyle’s neck and breathes in the calming smoky scent of the man. They stay like that until Will comes to find them and lets them know their shuttle is ready to take them to the airport.

 

\---

It becomes routine for them over the next week. They do a gig and then Kyle finds Dan back on stage looking out into the dark and silent hall just letting life go on around him.

 

It had been a hectic schedule for them. Unlike their previous trip out earlier in the year, they were having no breaks or days between their sets and if they weren’t on a plane, or performing on stage, they were sleeping. Neither of the pair spoke about what was happening, but from Kyle’s point of view it was obvious his fiancé was slide into the black hole that he himself had found himself in a number of times over the years. He really didn’t want that happening to someone who was as nice, kind and loveable as his Dan.

 

“So Dave actually hated us huh?” he says finally as they sit wrapped up in each other on the edge of their stage after their show in Iowa. The mental tour had been his parting gift before he left, ad none had them had realised how gruelling the travelling and work would be.

 

Dan pulls away sharply and looks up at Kyle, obviously still registering what he meant by the comment. As the joke hits him, his face breaks into the widest and brightest smile Kyle had seen on his face for a long time – and that included the expression he had had at the surprise of Charlie’s engagement. Dan laughs loudly ad Kyle pulls him forward and places a soft kiss on his temple.

 

“There he is,” he murmurs into Dan’s ear softly as the singer continues to chuckle at the ridiculousness of the statement. “I’ve missed you babe,” he adds and Dan looks at him again, but with a bit more confusion this time. “I don’t need to know what’s wrong, but I want you to know that I’m here for you, alright? Even if it’s just to make crappy sarcastic comments to try and make you laugh,” he explains, and at that Dan grabs both sides of the younger man’s face and crashes their lips together until they are both breathless.

 

“Oi!” comes a shout from the edge of the room. “Stop making home-made porn lovebirds! The minibus is here,” and it is Woody who has been sent to round the two of them up this time. They had been taking turns throughout the week and the drummer clearly did not appreciate walking in on the two of them kissing.

 

Kyle jumps up and then puts his hand out to pull Dan up off of the floor. They entwine their fingers together as they saunter past the long haired man. Kyle winks at him as they pass.

 

“You’re just jealous,” he says and sticks his tongue out at his friend.

 

“Of Dan?” he cries incredulous. “Don’t think so mate! I’ve smelt you in the mornings, I feel sorry for him!”

 

“Ha ha! My god dude, you’re hilarious,” Kyle retaliates sarcastically. “I meant of me getting this awesome man to myself,” he adds, shooting a kissing face at the singer who then blushes back; never being able to take a compliment like that. Kyle pulls him back into his arms and wraps him up in them as they get out to the van and watch the last of their luggage be packed up.

 

“Remind me why we’re flying out to New York tonight when the gig isn’t for another two days?” Kyle asks loudly to no one in particular, clearly annoyed that they were having to sacrifice going to bed and sleeping until a reasonable time the following day.

 

“Because you’re performing on MTV tomorrow morning remember?” Jools says to him directly, one of the first times in the past 4 days where she has been able to talk to him.

 

“Are we?” Dan pipes up, clearly having forgotten the engagement too. “What am I singing?” he asks wearily and Kyle feels like he sounds slightly delirious as well. He reaches up and feels his head with the back of his hand. He felt warmer than normal, and he looks at him sceptically. If he didn’t rest soon he wouldn’t be singing anything.

 

“Does it matter?” Kyle asks him and tries to let go, but Dan seems to have turned into a koala and is refusing to let him move. Kyle sighs loudly. “Charles, go into my back pack and find the paracetamol I’ve got in there, he’s got a temperature.”

 

A few moments later Charlie returns from the back of the vehicle with the packet Kyle needed and he punches two tablets out awkwardly around the singer and makes him swallow the tablets with a bottle of water Sharon managed to pull out from nowhere.

 

“It was meant to be Glory,” Jools says, looking slightly more worried after Kyle’s revelation.

 

“We’ll talk about in the morning,” is all the man says to her and pulls Dan into the warmth of the van.

 

\---

Morning comes after a late night check in to a four-star hotel in Manhattan. Jools had told them that they were due at the MTV studio in Times Square for a performance at eleven, so they were leaving the hotel at half nine.

 

At eight, when Dan’s alarm starts blaring loudly, Kyle is already awake and brewing a sachet of Lemsip for the singer to soothe his throat. He had been coughing on and off over night and Kyle was now watching him attempt to find his phone in the pile of white cotton on the bed. From where he was standing he looked like a stranded seal trying to find his way back to the water.

 

Kyle finishes the drink and walks over and hands him the mug and the handset so the alarm can be silenced.

 

“Drink this,” he says to him and Dan gives him a sour look in return.

 

“I don’t want to!” he cries, throat croaky and cracking at the end. Kyle looks at him with raised eyebrows and Dan eventually takes the mug from him.

 

“You can’t sing Glory today, babes,” Kyle tells him and Dan looks at him with wide eyes.

 

“I’m not cancelling,” he says taking a sip of the medicated drink. Kyle opens his mouth to try and argue and Dan puts a finger against his lips to silence him. “Kyle, it’s a stupid cold, I’m not cancelling.”

 

“Why can’t you be like every other man and take to your bed when you get a cold,” Kyle mutters after Dan removes his hand.

 

“Of the Night then,” Dan says to his lover. “It’s low enough not to bother me and a lot of it is effects.” And Kyle shrugs and hates to agree that that would be the easiest song for them to do when Dan was feeling bad.

 

“Only if you drink that,” Kyle says to him pointedly and Dan growls but finally agrees.

 

\---

A small crowd has congregated at the stage that has been set up for them in the area that was cordoned off for MTV in and around Times Square. Dan could see the small set up with all of their own instruments there, meaning the truck had managed to power through overnight and get there in time.

 

The stage is made out of neon red plastic boxes, all backlit and bright underneath the instruments. The crowd sees them as they pull up and the shrill screeching from the girls starts to make Dan’s head pound harder and he sees a knowing look come at him from Kyle.

 

“Don’t say anything,” he says to him and Woody smirks at Charlie at the interaction.

 

They are quickly moved through from the pavement up into the dressing rooms and plonked into separate director’s chairs as the make-up artists start applying products to their faces.

 

Kyle notices a production assistant running around with a headset and clipboard and waves frantically at her. She rushes over when she notices and she stands next to him, looking like possibly the most harassed girl in the building.

 

“Mr Simmons, what can I do for you,” she drawls and pushes her thick glasses onto her head, pinning back a large mess of unruly brown curls.

 

“Firstly, please don’t call me Mr Simmons? That’s my dad, and as of right now we don’t get on very well,” Kyle tells her and she looks at him, slightly confused. Woody nudges his shoulder, and Kyle suddenly realises he was babbling things this woman didn’t need to know. “Sorry,” he apologises quickly. “Can you get Dan a hot chocolate? Don’t care if it has marshmallows or cream, but he needs something warm without caffeine please,” he says to her and the woman looks over at the singer, who was huffing when he heard the request.

 

“Kyle, I’m fine!” he says loudly, but the cracking was still evident in his voice as he spoke. “Really, I’m fine,” he adds to the woman who starts looking more and more flustered as she looks from one man to the other.

 

“Dan, drink the bloody drink will you?” Will pipes up and everyone looks over at him. “Well if it will shut the baby up it’ll make everything else better,” and Kyle shoots him a bitch face. Dan nods to the woman and she rushes off quickly.

 

“Oh, fuck,” Dan says. “Sorry, hi, I’m really sorry! Can you send my assistant in please?” he shouts at the woman before she leaves the room and she nods and escapes.

 

A moment later Jools comes in and Dan relays the need for a drum on stage to her and she just looks at him confused. Kyle rolls his eyes in the mirror and the woman doing his face tuts as she repositions his head.

 

“Just…shit…” Dan says as his own artist was getting fed up with his movements. “Is Coop out there?” Jools nods quickly. “Go find him, tell him we’re doing Of The Night and to set up for it,” he tells her quickly, and she looks at him for what felt like an eternity, before slowly nodding and backing out of the room like she was going to say something, but then changes her mind.

 

“There is a real possibility we will go out there and all of the instruments have gone, you know that right?” Woody pipes up from the sofa at the back of the room – already having had his make-up finished and playing Angry Birds on his phone.

 

Thankfully, the set-up is fine when they get out there and they all get on stage and get ready quickly before they are introduced by the pair of very enthusiastic men. The song passes without a hitch. Dan looks a bit more worn out than normal by the end of it, but his voice held out nicely and they all head off to the stage to be interviewed at the end.

 

They seem to have miscounted the number of people in the band, or didn’t expect all four to be on stage as there is only a three-person red sofa next to the interviewers.

 

Dan sits down first, with Kyle and Will following, but Woody soon realises there is nowhere for him to sit, and perches on the arm of the furniture.

 

“Oh, mate, no!” Dan cries when he realises, and he stands up quickly. Everyone on the stage looks at him confused, and the presenters try desperately to ad lib and get another seat on the stage while the cameras film it all live.  “Nah, it’s cool, honestly,” Dan tells them. “Ky, budge up,” and he makes Kyle and Will move up the sofa to get Woody a place.

 

“But then you don’t have a seat,” the tall, muscular blond man announces, and forces a laugh out at the revelation.

 

“Oh but I have a ready-made seat!” Dan says to him, almost conspiratorially. Before anyone can say anything else, he plonks himself down on Kyle’s lap and pulls his arms around his middle. The man takes his lead and plants his chin on his shoulder. “There you go! All comfortable now!” Dan announces and tries not to laugh at the look of shock on the faces of the two men and the people behind the camera.

 

“Well, alright then,” the darker haired man says and regains his composure a bit quicker than the other. They have the normal interview questions about what was going on with the tour and when the next album was out.

 

It was really a short interview and appearance to get their name out into the population, but when it was over they all moved out into the small crowd and Dan greeted all of the fans that had been there from early in the morning just to watch them perform one song. Kyle stuck to his side, making sure he wasn’t going to collapse and earned more than one irritated glance from infatuated teenagers at his presence.

 

After half an hour, the group moved to go back into the building and get ready to go and make the most of their spare afternoon. Suddenly a familiar voice stops them in their tracks.

 

“Wow, so you’ll make sure _he’s_ fine, but when it comes to your pregnant lover you’ll just ignore me?”

 

“Oh fuck,” Kyle mutters, and Dan’s head falls forward heavily.

 

They both turn around slowly, but know exactly what they will see when they do.

 

Laura stands behind them with her hands on her hips and the angriest look on her face, as a large group of fans gather around with their mouths wide open to watch what will happen next.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> Alright, so was meant to be updating a bit more regularly than I have been, and I'm sorry, but writer's block has been a real thing recently!
> 
> Hopefully this is alright for you, but as always let me know, comments - good and bad - always welcomed and I love constructive criticism!!
> 
> xx


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright you lot....so I really am sorry that this has taken so long to update. Time seems to have gotten away from me again this week. 
> 
> I promise I will update once a week and probably on a Friday!
> 
> This chapter is a bit shorter than normal, but I couldn't carry on after where it finishes. 
> 
> As always let me know what you think....comments do make me write faster (not that I'm bribing you or anything!! ;P)

Chapter Ten

Kyle puts his hands onto Dan’s shoulders and lets his head fall forward to rest on the top of the shorter man’s head. He grips onto his lover hard as if letting go would mean losing all sense of rationality and takes an audibly deep breath in before turning around and glaring at the girl. Dan was able to tell by the brunette’s reaction that Kyle must have had fury in his eyes as she visibly took a small half step backwards when she looked at him before quickly regaining her composure.  

 

“What the fuck are you doing here?” he hisses as he stalks forward and grabs hold of her arm roughly and manhandling her towards the building and out of sight of prying eyes still watching at the side lines.

 

Shouts and cries from some of the younger girls in the crowd of ‘ _are you alright?_ ’ and ‘ _Kyle don’t hurt her’,_ float over towards Dan and he quickly whips around and puts a calming hand on his fiancé before giving him a warning look and glancing back at the watchers.

 

“Shit,” he curses, but lets the girl go as if he had been burned. She waltzes past him and through the fire door held open by a member of the production crew like she was royalty.

 

Reluctantly the couple follow Laura into the green room to find out exactly why she had decided to make the transatlantic trip to stalk them. Woody and Will refuse to be left out and so storm in directly after them, and the usually calm drummer looks as if someone had just told him his favourite football team had gone into liquidation – and Will wasn’t faring much better.

 

Woody slams the door on the rest of the group who had been following them. Dan sees Jools’ concerned face trying to look through the door before it is shut on her and turns back to the rest of them. He could feel his medications starting to fade and his head was beginning to swim again. He moves silently over to a plastic chair in the corner of the room and sits down on it for some relief. Laura settles herself down gracefully on the sofa in the centre of the room and primly crosses her legs before plastering a smile on her face and looking at each of the men in turn – clearly ecstatic to be getting so much attention.

 

She was wearing a tan chorduroy skirt, tight and cut to thigh length with a long sleeved body hugging t-shirt on top. He long brown – normally straight – hair had been curled and was now waving around her shoulders loosely and she was wearing brown leather ankle boots, with a heel that Dan would have thought would have been uncomfortable for anyone trying to grow a baby inside them. She still wasn’t showing and he figure only seemed fuller at her bust line and hips. If Dan didn’t know any better, he would have sworn the girl wasn’t pregnant.

 

“Right, you,” Woody starts and turns viciously on the girl, still smiling away even though the shaggy haired drummer was less than a foot away and pointing menacingly at her. “You’ve been dealing with naïve Dan and the idiot that is Kyle far too long. Now you’re dealing with me, and I’m not as stupid as those two.”

 

“Hey!” Kyle shouts at him, clearly upset at being called out.

 

“Mate, come on,” Woody says. “She’s been hanging around like a bad smell for how long now? You say you’ve not slept with her, we all believe you, now fuck off!” he finishes, turning back to the girl and brashly staring at her again.

 

“It’s fair mate,” Will whispers to the man and Kyle just looks back at him.

 

“I know but…” he trails off as Woody makes a noise to quieten them.

 

“But does _Kyle_ really believe he hasn’t slept with me?” the girl asks slyly, and sits forward in the chair to get her face closer to the drummer. “Because, I really don’t think he remembers everything that happened in Manchester do you, Kyle?”

 

The room goes silent for a moment as everyone turns and looks at him. He’s standing with his arms crossed and his mouth hanging half open as he looks at each one of his friends one by one. He looks at Will and Woody – their supporting faces suddenly turning to suspicion as the silence carries on.

 

“Bu…wha?” he splutters before managing to come to his senses quickly, but slower than he had hoped. He flicks his eyes over to Dan who is still sitting quietly but with his eyes cast down to the ground.

 

“No dude! _God_! We didn’t sleep together, for fuck’s sake!” he shouts and storms out of the room, the door slamming after him, but he had pulled it so hard it didn’t stay shut and it swings into the backs of some of the runners milling around outside.

 

Jools comes running in to make sure everything was fine.

 

“Is he alright? What’s happened?” she demands from someone in the room and everyone just looks at each other, not answering.

 

“Oh, I would run along after him dear,” Laura says snidely from the couch as she relaxes backwards and crosses her legs again. “Oh and a quick tip - something short on the bottom and low cut on the top and he’ll drool over you like a puppy, mark my words,” she adds and gives her a mocking smile as the redhead scowls at her and leaves the room to find her friend.

 

“Look, play me, play Kyle – do what you want, but don’t play with _her_ emotions,” Dan says to her as he gets out of his seat and collects his belongings. He was tired and needed to get more fluids and pain killers in to his body. He sighs and rubs at his face as he walks out of the still open door.

 

Woody notices his friend’s complete and utter exhaustion and gives a last glaring look back at the girl as he rushes out after him. Will stays in the room with them for a few minutes before he starts to talk. He lets the silence carry on until he could tell the younger girl was uncomfortable.

 

“I don’t know what you’re up to, and if you slept with him or not that’s between the two of you. But _that_ man,” he pauses and makes sure she knows he means Dan, “means a lot to all of us. So we will fight you on this. Just so you know,” he finishes and gets up from where he had been leaning casually and saunters coolly out of the room, closing the door behind him.

 

Another moment of silence passes as Laura sits stock still in the same position Will had left her in. A small smile creeps over her lips and she starts to giggle at herself, clearly thrilled with the way the confrontation had played out.

 

A tinny stock ring tone comes from her pocket and she pulls the phone out and clicks the button to answer it.

 

“Hello?”

 

_“You got there safely then?”_ comes the older woman’s voice down the handset.

 

“Yeah, and oh my goodness that was so much fun! Thank you for teaching me how to be all high and mighty and brilliant! You should have seen their faces!” Laura gushes to the woman and giggles as she’s doing it.

 

_“Well, Laura, dear you have to keep up the pretense you know? It’s all well and good acting like this now, but you aren’t going to be his wife if you don’t get him to accept the baby,”_ Margaret croons down the phone.

 

“I know, I know,” the girl agrees easily.

 

_“Oh and ring Adam, he’ll be worried about you,”_ she finishes and the line clicks as the woman hangs up.

 

 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I know what I said. 
> 
> What can I say, chapters are like buses, you wait all day for one and then a whole load come along at once.
> 
> Felt bad about leaving you so short the other day, so here you go. Have a proper length one.
> 
> Let me know, feedback is like gold xx

Chapter Eleven

Even though his head was pounding, he felt like he was sweating more than he normally did after ninety minutes on stage and he wanted to sleep for longer than a week, Dan decided he was going to walk back to the hotel and try and get some fresh air before having to deal with any of the fallout of the meeting.

 

Of course Woody protested. Jools tried to talk him into the van with the rest of them, and Will tried to mother hen him into submission, but the lack of conversation with his lover and the way he just kept staring at the ground instead of even glancing his way once told Dan everything he needed to know. They both needed some space after the encounter with Laura, and Dan was willing to give Kyle that.

 

He brought Google Maps up on his phone and typed the name of the hotel into it and waited for it to figure out the route he needed to take to get back there. It was only a mile away from where he was, but he decided to take a couple of pit stops on the way to enjoy some of the sights he wanted to see on his own.

 

He walked through the biting cold and wind, the weather actually helping his temperature slightly, and he managed to stop into a Starbucks and get a coffee to take some more paracetamol with and that immediately made him feel a bit more human. Finishing the drink, he stuffs the paper cup in a bin and walks back out into the street before heading up to the Rockefeller centre. He spends some time people watching before heading back in the direction of the hotel.

 

He knew by this time he had been gone for over an hour and that people would be worried. He had noticed the number of missed calls on his phone from Will and Woody, and even Sharon had called him once, obviously trying to see if he would answer for someone who hadn’t been involved.

 

He decides to head back, but on his way he passes a kitschy tourist shop and a t-shirt in the window caught his eye as something he knew Kyle would adore. Ten minutes later and he walked out with white lounge pants with cartoon depictions of the Statue of Liberty and yellow taxis all over them and a white t-shirt with a cartoon drawing of ice skating at Rockefeller centre.

 

He felt better about everything after having time to think about the conversation, and in his head he still didn’t think it was possible that anything could have happened between the two of them in Manchester. There had been ten minutes where they weren’t together without either of them knowing what was happening, and that had been right before the accident. Unless she had been the easiest lay of his life – which, let’s face it the way she had been acting wouldn’t be much of a reach – there was very little time for anything to have gone on.

 

The familiar tone of his phone suddenly goes off and he is shocked back into the present as he looks at the phone to see that it wasn’t actually any of his travelling party calling him. He smiles as the faces of his family light up the screen and he ducks into a small independent café in order to take the call.

 

“Hello?” he asks and looks around his surroundings as he sees exactly where he has walked into.

 

“Darling! I managed to get hold of you! Are you free at the moment?” his mother asks down the phone.

 

“Mum, can you wait a minute?” and he puts his hand over the microphone of the handset as a well-dressed server walks up to him expectantly.

 

“Sir, can I help you?” the blond boy asks him – he was barely older than seventeen and he looked like Dan was his first customer ever.

 

“Uhm, yeah, can I just get a table for one for a coffee?” Dan asks him, stuttering slightly over his words.

 

The boy nods quickly and grabs one of the menus and gestures for the singer to follow him over to a solitary table in the middle of the room. Dan thanks him as he places the menu in front of him and scurries away as quickly as possible. Dan smiles to himself as he remembers himself at that age.

 

He takes a moment to look around him and take in the establishment a bit more. It was decorated intentionally shabby chic inside, with dark wooden floors and tables. Everything appeared new, but worn and he likes the juxtaposition and contrast of that. He picks up the menu and looks over it quickly before bringing the phone back to his ear.

 

“Hi, mum how are you?” he asks her politely as he scans the long list of different hipster type coffees he could choose from.

 

“I’m very good thank you Daniel, I need to ask you something and we need to talk about dates,” she starts and he can hear her wittering on about times and decorations as the boy comes back to his table for his order.

 

“Uh, just a cappuccino please,” he says quietly, trying not to disrupt his mother as she continued in his ear. “But can you put an extra shot of coffee in there please?” and the boy nods quickly as he writes down the clearly complicated order and rushes off.

 

“And Patrick wants to know whether we’ve decided on the place yet,” his mother finishes in his ear, and Dan suddenly realises that he is meant to say something in return.

 

“Oh! Er…Who’s Patrick?” Dan asks her clearly confused and missing something important.

 

“Patrick, Daniel, the man from Syon House,” she says as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “He wants to know if you’ve made a decision and if so, when exactly you would be planning on having the ceremony.”

 

Dan groans loudly down the phone at his mother and doesn’t say anything in response. He lets the silence continue until his mother decides to say something else.

 

“Dan, please, work with me here. I just want to make this something special for you and Kyle,” she pleads with him, and Dan rolls his eyes to the waiter as he comes back with his coffee. The boy looks completely stunned and confused as he walks away from him.

 

He listens to his mother continue on for another few minutes while he tears open a couple of sweetener packets and pours them into his drink, stirring to mix it all together and he finally notices that the talking has stopped.

 

He knew that his mum was excited about this, but he couldn’t tell her that he didn’t want all the bells and whistles she was intent on providing him for the ceremony. Especially with all the drama going on at the moment, all he wanted to do was to do the vows as privately as possible and hope against hope that the crazy people would start to leave them alone.

 

“Mum can we talk about this when I get home? Now’s really not the time to be discussing times, dates, venues…” he really didn’t want to upset her by telling her to but out, but he had a feeling she was not going to stop until they got into an argument about it.

 

“But, I really think we need to get this venue nailed down to make sure we get the date we want,” she carries on.

 

“Mum, really, I have a headache, and I’m really tired, can we talk later?”

 

Suddenly there was a muffled noise and Dan could hear the phone being taken away from the woman and then could hear her complaining in the background. He smiles slightly when he finally hears his little sister’s voice coming through to him.

 

“DC, I’ll sort her out, I told her not to ring you just now, but you know what she’s like,” Ella explains down the phone to him.

 

“Thanks titch,” he says gently to his sister, suddenly feeling more tired as he sips his coffee. “How are you anyway?”

 

“I’m good, but more to the point how are you?” she asks him, suddenly serious.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Well, you looked like crap performing and then all the uproar against Kyle online, thought you might be feeling a bit low,” she says.

 

“Firstly, how did you see us perform?” Dan asks, clearly confused about how something only being shown in America had already been seen by his sister.

 

“Really, Dan, that’s the first question you want answered?” Ella sasses down the phone. “Fine, it’s on social media. Just need to know where to look,” she tells him quickly.

 

“I’ve got a shitty cold and feel like crap, that’s all sis, really,” Dan tells her. “So why is everyone against Kyle now?”

 

“Well…some of them are pissed because of he isn’t looking after the baby,” she starts.

 

“But….!” Dan tries to intervene and is sharply cut off.

 

“I know! Don’t have a go at me,” she says and he huffs down the phone at her. “Some of them don’t like the way he apparently grabbed her and, I quote, ‘threw her to the floor’, and the rest just think he cheated on you and hate him for that.”

 

“He didn’t throw her to the floor though!” Dan cries out, feeling the strain on his voice as he was getting upset listening to how Kyle was now, _again_ , being blamed for things he had no control over. “He grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the building, and then her let go of her before she walked in herself! There was no throwing, falling or pregnant girls on the floor at all!”

 

“Hey, I’m not on their sides, bro am I?” Ella says to him and Dan sighs loudly and puts his head in his hand. “All I want to know is that you’re alright. And I just wanted you to answer one question for me.”

 

“What?” he asks, pathetically, rubbing at his temple, trying to get his headache to shift a bit.

 

“Is this all really worth it, bro? All this shit stirring and everything? Is – “

 

“Are you asking if _Kyle_ is really worth it, Ella?” Dan asks her sternly, and his sister knows that she has struck a nerve. She doesn’t say anything for a moment and for a moment Dan wonders if the line has cut off. He looks at his screen to make sure he was still connected.

 

“Yes, I suppose that is what I’m asking,” She sighs finally, clearly not wanting to upset her brother any more than necessary. “I mean; no one is gonna be upset with you if you want to call it a day. I just don’t want you to think that you have to go through with any of this just because you’ve had to put up with all this crap and you feel you have to prove it to anyone.”

 

Dan can feel himself stop breathing at the sense of betrayal he felt coming from the one person he thought he was able to trust to be on his side. He shoves the chair backwards and the legs squeal obnoxiously agains the wooden floor boards with the movement. He pulls his wallet out of his jeans and throws a ten dollar bill on the table before storming out of the café, still on his phone.

 

“I’m not proving anything to anyone,” he hisses to his sister. “I love Kyle – am in love with Kyle – and I’m not going to let stupid girls with crushes, or crazy sociopaths get in the way of that. If all else fails, I don’t know, I’ll quit the fucking band! But don’t call me and talk about this shit. Ever.”

 

He forcefully hits the end button on the screen and storms up the steps into the lobby of the hotel. He rushes up to his hotel room and bangs heavily on the door to his and Kyle’s room and waits a moment before banging on it again.

 

“Alright, alright! Jesus Christ will you calm down whoever you are?” he can hear Kyle say from behind the door.

 

The door swings open inwards and he is faced with the confused and angry face of his lover standing there with his toothbrush hanging out of the side of his mouth and just a loose vest and jogging bottoms on. Dan smiles immediately at the image of the goofball that he loved so much and as soon as Kyle realised who it was he visibly crumples in what can only be relief that Dan has safely returned.

 

“Where the fuck have you been,” his angry words belying the obvious relief his body was putting out, and he holds the door open for the singer to walk through. Instead Dan just wraps his arms around his middle and holds him as tightly as he can.

 

“Babes, what’s wrong? If this is about Laura, I can explain…” and he starts stumbling through words trying to tell him exactly what he can’t remember and why.

 

“Shut up, Kyle,” is all Dan says to him, his face still buried in the taller man’s shoulder, inhaling the familiar scent of him. He had clearly just had a shower and Dan could almost feel the minty tang of his body wash on his tongue.

 

He reaches up and kisses the younger man softly on the lips and pulls away before he feels the need to deepen it.

 

“Dan, baby, you’re not feeling good, we can’t do anything at the moment,” Kyle tells him softly as he pushes the door closed, giving them a bit more privacy.

 

“I know, that’s not what I want,” Dan says to him cryptically.

 

“Well what do you want?” Kyle looks at him now very confused.

 

“I want to get married,” Dan replies simply. “Now.”

 


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, wow....well it was close, but I promised a Friday and here it is guys!
> 
> So, quick thing, my name on here has changed so that I'm a little more consistent across all my platforms...but trust that it's still me!!
> 
> Hope you enjoy! x

Chapter Twelve

“What?”

 

“Get married. I want to get married right now,” Dan insists, and runs his hand down Kyle’s bare arms and threads their hands together and pulls him over to the bed to sit him down. He stands between Kyle’s legs and puts his hands on his shoulders before dipping his head to peck at his lips – the younger man still looking dazed and confused.

 

“Dan, I want to – god you know I want to! – but babe, we don’t know the first thing about what we have to do to get married over here,” Kyle pulls him towards him by his hips and wraps his arms around his back.

 

“We can google it then, can’t be that difficult surely?” the singer says, pulling away from Kyle and pulling his phone out of his pocket, obviously trying to type in exactly how to get married in New York in a hurry.

 

_“Dan!”_ Kyle shouts, suddenly standing up from the bed and marching over to the man and taking the phone out of his hands. “God, you know I’m all for crazy weird things, babe, but this? You wanting this? Especially after what happened this morning, surely we should talk about this?”

 

The singer stops what he’s doing and looks up at his best friend with wide eyes. Kyle looks directly into them and he can see the build-up of emotion running through the deep blue. Dan starts to chew on the inside of his cheek and Kyle releases a deep breath he didn’t even know he had been holding.

 

“What the hell happened while you were out?” he asks him, resigned that something else had obviously gone on to make Dan this worked up.

 

“What do you mean? Nothing happened,” Dan says off-handedly, and clearly not convincingly.

 

“Daniel Campbell Smith, I know you better than I know myself and the one thing you can’t do is lie. You couldn’t lie if your entire family’s life was depending on it, so you tell me now or you tell me in about two hours’ time when it’s eaten away at you so much you have to tell me. It’s your choice, babes.” He raises an eye brow and just looks expectantly at the man he loves.

 

Dan says nothing and shifts his eyes so he’s looking at the carpet instead of the other man.

 

“Fine,” Kyle says finally. “I’m going to get shit faced in the bar because I don’t have to work tonight. You need to sleep and rest if you’re insisting on continuing this crazy schedule,” he finishes and walks silently over to his fiancé and places and soft kiss on his temple.

 

“Don’t go,” Dan pleads pathetically and looks at him, plaintively.

 

“Babes, you need to tell me what caused this,” Kyle tells him and holds both of his hands and strokes his thumbs over the backs of them soothingly.

 

“Nothing fucking caused this, Kyle!” Dan suddenly shouts and pulls away from him and stalks over to the window and looks out over the hustle and bustle of the traffic and city life below them. “If you don’t want to fucking marry me, don’t fucking marry me!”

 

“What the fuck? Where did that come from mate?” Kyle exclaims in return as he watches Dan screw the ring off of his left ring finger and hold it in front of his face.

 

“I mean what’s the point anymore anyway? You probably screwed that girl and she’s pregnant,” Dan rages and throws the ring onto the bed and rubs at the skin on his finger where it is sore from the constant wear. Kyle watches him wide eyes and his mouth hangs open, not quite understanding what was happening.

 

“Low blow man, seriously low blow there,” Kyle snaps suddenly and they stand glaring at each other for a moment. “Fuck it, I’m out of here,” Kyle says finally and grabs a mustard yellow hoody and his wallet before storming out of the room the same way he had at the studio earlier.

 

“Fuck off then! She’s probably waiting for you anyway!” Dan calls after him and then promptly collapses onto the bed and angrily picks up the remote control with a scowl on his face, before turning on the television to try and distract him.

 

He folds his arms over his chest and loses himself in some awfully acted soap opera, and tries not to think about how his life was eerily more fucked up than what he was seeing.

 

\---

Kyle stalks down the hallway, hearing the insensitive call of his fiancé behind him. He grunts and takes a swing at a conveniently placed metal trash can he was walking past, barely hitting it or making a dent.

 

Stopping, he turns and puts both hands on the receptacle and drops his head forward, trying to take some calming, steadying breaths. He doesn’t hear the door behind him open or the soft footsteps walking up to him, so when the talking started he jumps slightly at the noise.

 

“Kyle?” Charlie asks, concern clearly apparent in his voice.

 

Even though he wasn’t expecting his brother, he swipes his hands at his face to wipe away the start of tears and turns round to look at him, his normal smirk attempting to pull at his lips.

 

“Hey, Charles, how you doing?” he asks him, the only thing betraying him was the slight tremor of emotion in his voice.

 

Charlie doesn’t even entertain the thought that Kyle is fine and pulls him forcefully into a bone crushing hug, his smaller frame fully engulfing Kyle’s taller one.

 

“Mate, I’m fine, what you up to?” Kyle deflects quickly after letting the smaller hold him for a moment, feeling the comfort the gesture offered him.

 

“You want to get a drink?” is all the slightly younger man says to him simply. Kyle chews at his bottom lip and nods slowly, letting out a deep sigh. “Cool, let me go and tell Shaz,” he says and he leaves his brother in the hallway to compose himself as he runs back into his room.

 

Not even a minute later he reappears, putting things into his pockets and shutting the door softly behind him.

 

“Right, come on,” he says and slings his arm around Kyle’s shoulders as comfortably as possible and pulls him towards the lifts. They bypass the hotel bar quickly and Kyle is lost in his own thoughts while Charlie walks him quietly over the road to a quiet looking pub.

 

The lighting was dark and dim, and it looked like one of those dive places back in London that he used to meet all of his friends at. He had stopped doing that recently, what with all of the drama that had been going on. The thought crosses his mind that he would really need to get back in touch with friends that had nothing to do with his career.

 

Charlie walks him over to a corner booth, with the seats upholstered in faux red velvet and tearing at the seams. He collapses into the seat and his brother disappears to the bar, leaving him to sit and think more deeply about what had happened.

 

A pint glass and a shot glass was plonked in front of him and Charlie pulls a bar stool over and sits himself down opposite the synth player with the same order. He picks the smaller glass up and holds it out to his brother as a ‘cheers’ and Kyle realises he was waiting for him to do the same. He looks dejectedly at the amber liquid, but picks it up, and they both down it at the same time.

 

He winces as the strong burn slides down his throat, warming his insides as it goes and settles in his stomach. He chases the burn down with a long gulp pf the Guinness from his pint glass.

 

Silence continues as Charlie scrutinises his face, and Kyle slowly becomes more and more uncomfortable.

 

“Spit it out mate,” he says finally and crosses his arms in front of him to try and make him feel a bit more protected from the anticipated onslaught of questions. Charlie contemplates him again and then narrows his eyes quickly.

 

“You’re my friend and now my brother mate, and I love you, I do, but did you sleep with her?” he asks him frankly and Kyle just looks at him, not expecting that question in particular.

 

“I don’t know,” Kyle replies quietly and looks at his hands where he had started tearing up a cardboard place mat.

 

“Alright,” Charlie agrees after a moment. “So what happened with Dan?”

 

Kyle tilts his head and looks at his brother curiously.

 

“Mate, the only reason either of you looks this upset is because you’ve had a fight or if one of you is in hospital,” Charlie explains.

 

Kyle had to give him that. Even before the two of them had gotten together a fight was the only reason either of them got so emotional. Even breaking up with previous girlfriends had never made Kyle as frustrated as Dan could.

 

“He came in all excited and wanted to get married, like right away,” Kyle says and takes another gulp of his drink as he remembers the entire fiasco. Charlie’s eyes widen as he takes in what he was told.

 

“What, like today?” he asks, to clarify.

 

“Yeah, like today,” Kyle confirms and rolls his eyes. “He got upset when I asked him why and he thought I was turning him down and started lashing out.”

 

Instead of replying, Charlie pulled his phone out and started tapping away on the screen, clearly looking at something. “Did he have any plan of exactly how he was going to do this?” he murmurs as he concentrates.

 

“Um, no he didn’t seem to get that far,” Kyle says, thinking deeply and then trying to look over his brother’s shoulder. “What you doing?”

 

Charlie looks up at him finally, and clicks the power button to turn the screen off.

 

“So if he had explained why he wanted it suddenly and you were happy with the answer, what would you have said?” he asks.

 

Kyle sits and thinks for a minute. Hell, he would have said yes. God, of course he would have. There was no reason not to. The only people from his family he would have wanted there would have been Charlie and Tash, and Tash would have understood when he explained it. He just wanted to be with Dan. That was the reason he had proposed in the first place.

 

“I would have said alright,” he admits finally. Charlie just gives him a knowing look and quirks his eyebrows at him. “Fuck. I’m an idiot,” he admits.

 

“Self-awareness is always a good thing to have Kyle,” Charlie chuckles and takes a drink. “Anyway, back to actual semantics, but you wouldn’t have been able to get married today. You need to give them twenty-four hours, and by this time tomorrow your man will be singing his little heart out,” he tells him.

 

“How do you know these things?” Kyle asks him, intrigues that this man was a font of constant information for him.

 

“It’s a secret, but seeing as you’re my brother now,” Charlie leans in towards the centre of the table and waves Kyle to lean in too, as if he was going to impart the secret of life. “Google, ya weirdo!” he says and slaps the man around the back of the head.

 

“Ow! There was no need for that!” Kyle protests and rubs the back of his skull.

 

“But, there is a place we are heading to very soon where that’s not a problem,” Charlie says cryptically and relaxes back with his pint in his hand, that knowing look back on his face.

 

\---

Dan looks up from the TV when he hears the door click unlocked as a key card is swiped. He had been sitting stewing in his feelings for a couple of hours and he had quickly realised he had possibly over reacted to Kyle’s innocent questioning.

 

He watches as the taller man opens the door and looks around the side of it to see if Dan is around, and he starts to feel guilty again, so he quickly swings his legs off the bed and gets up to hug his lover.

 

He feels Kyle tense at the first touch, but quickly relaxes and he hugs back, wrapping his long arms around his back and squeezing tightly.

 

“I’m sorry,” Dan mumbles into his shoulder. “I really don’t think you slept with her, I love you and I had a shit conversation with my sister and took it all out on you,” he continues to mumble. Kyle stays quiet and just presses soft kisses on the top of his head, before walking him backwards to the bed and sitting him down and kneeling between his legs so the singer is looking down on him.

 

“So,” he starts. “We can’t get married in New York, we’re too busy and its too short notice.”

 

Dan looks down on him and nods slowly, his mouth now hanging open in a good approximation of what Kyle had looked like earlier.

 

“Now, Vegas on the other hand…” and Kyle’s voice trails off and he looks slyly up at Dan with a twinkle in his eye.

 

Dan grabs at the back of Kyle’s neck, smiling widely and pulls him toward him and attacks his lips fiercely, slipping his tongue into the younger man’s mouth, teasing tantalisingly as they stroke their tongues together in a sensual dance.

 

They pull apart loudly, both trying to catch their breaths, and stay in the same position but with their foreheads resting against each other.

 

“Are we doing this?” Dan asks him, clearly still worried about the argument.

 

“Baby, we’re doing this,” Kyle confirms and smiles widely before surging forward to claim the singer’s mouth again.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooooh! And I hope everyone who wanted managed to get tickets this morning!!!
> 
> As always, comments, kudos etc, etc, very welcome xxx


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

“Why don’t we just go to that wedding window thing?” Kyle legitimately asks his fiancé as they sit in the waiting area at the marriage license bureau.

 

They are sitting in the corner of the surprisingly full reception in blue fabric covered chairs. Both men can see the staff sitting behind high desks with what appears to be bullet proof glass separating them from the members of the public. Kyle takes a moment to think of how deranged someone must be to want to shoot up a marriage bureau, but he supposed it took all kinds of people to make the world go round.

 

Dan looks down at his hands where he’s fiddling with the printout of their confirmation of what they had already filled out online. It had taken an extremely small amount of time to complete the form that meant they would be able to bind themselves together forever.  He was so sure that this was what he wanted to do, but as with everything official in his life he was starting to feel extremely nervous about everything.

 

“Wedding window? Like a drive through wedding?” Dan asks, having had time to consider what Kyle had asked him.

 

“Well, it looks fast and efficient?” Kyle tells him and holds the handset out to him to have a look at the website. Dan scrolls down the page quickly, eyebrows raised and nodding in agreement.

 

“Should we maybe do something a bit more exciting though?” Dan says and looks at him through his glasses.

 

The innocence that looks at him through the sapphire eyes is too much for Kyle and he leans forward and kisses the singer on the tip of his nose. When he pulls back, Dan is almost cross eyed from where he had watched him, and it makes Kyle laugh softly.

 

“Too cute, you know that?” he mutters quietly and Dan blushes, and clears his throat to try and change the subject.

 

“How about this, same place, but inside within the hour. Aisle and stuff. Feel a bit more official?” Dan asks and hands the phone back.

 

“Coolio, babes, looks good to me,” Kyle agrees so quickly it makes Dan think that was actually his plan all along, but he doesn’t say anything. He continues watching the old style television screen mounted precariously on the wall for their number to be called. They were on number 793. He glances at his number on the printout again. 804. He sighs loudly and hopes the time will go quickly.

 

\---

They step out of the official looking office and on to the sand stone coloured pavement and into the almost blistering heat neither of them were used to. It was nearly Christmas and they were both walking around in shorts and tank tops.

 

Kyle looks at Dan and they both stare at each other, feeling a bit dumbstruck before both faces crack into the widest grins either of them had worn. Kyle actually whoops with excitement and Dan suddenly finds himself gathered into the taller man’s arms and being lifted off the ground and spun in a full circle.

 

“Ky! Oh my fucking god!” Dan shrieks and laughs at the same time before he is put down. Kyle pulls him forward by the back of the neck and claims his mouth in a quick kiss, but when he pulls back Dan can see the lust blown pupils in his friend’s eyes.

 

“God if we didn’t have stuff to go and do right now,” Kyle says and leaves the statement unfinished, but Dan has no doubt what he is thinking, mainly because the singer himself couldn’t wait to get the man back to their hotel room and perform unspeakable sex acts on him. This whole wedding and marriage license thing had made him hornier than he had felt in a while, but Kyle had been adamant that nothing was going to happen until he was feeling better than he had in New York. Today was the first time he had actually felt like himself again, but they had to collect their license and now go shopping for rings and actually book the venue for the next day.

 

They are both knocked out of their reverie by a loud tutting behind them as a tall and slim- and very typically American – looking couple tries to leave the building as well. The leggy blond woman rolls her eyes at them and the man in an honest to god Stetson and checked flannel shirt and jeans barges past, knocking into the pair obnoxiously.

 

“Fucking fags everywhere these days,” the man mutters to the woman as he walks past. “Marriage isn’t sacred anymore honey,” he continues.

 

“I know, baby bear,” the woman agrees loudly. “It should be saved for people like us!”

 

Kyle coughs loudly, and Dan quickly turns away to hide his embarrassment for what he knows is going to be a show down between the three of them. “Kyle don’t do this,” he mutters so the couple can’t hear him.

 

Kyle scoffs and gives him a disappointed look. “Hello there,” Kyle starts, putting on a very affected private school boy accent. “I’m sorry, but couldn’t quite help over hearing that you two wonderful people are getting married too,” he continues. Dan bites the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing at the ridiculousness of his fiancé.

 

The ‘cowboy’ – as Kyle had decided to call him in his head turns around and looks at him, scrutinising every bit of the synth player. Even though Kyle was a clear four inches taller than him, he managed a look on his face which made Kyle feel like he was being literally looked down upon.

 

“Don’t talk to her,” he squares up, and Dan can feel the hatred flowing off of him in waves.

 

“I’m so sorry, just wondering how long you two have been a wonderful pairing for,” Kyle apologises, still in the fake accent, unwilling to end the charade now he had started it.

 

“Three days,” the man sneers at them. “When you know you know,” he adds and leers at his blond airhead of a fiancé who giggles at the attention. Dan and Kyle both nod at him with their eyes wide.

 

“Oh, right,” Dan says to break the silence and tries not to make any noise and he silently chuckles to himself.

 

“Oh, well thank you for showing us exactly what the sanctity of marriage looks like,” Kyle says, the sarcasm obvious I his voice, but the couple just look smug at them as Kyle grabs Dan’s hands and entwines their fingers together and rushes off quickly before they realise he was being rude.

 

As soon as they are around the corner and near a taxi rank, Kyle explodes, the force of straining to keep his laughter inside becoming too much for him.

 

“You utter bastard!” Dan suddenly shouts at him, and hits him on the shoulder. “They’re legally allowed to carry guns here you know?”

 

“Meh,” Kyle makes a disinterested noise and shrugs his shoulders once he has calmed down a bit. They jump into the next free yellow car that arrives and asks for the nearest shopping centre. “People like _them_ , indeed,” he adds bitterly. “He’s probably got frequent flyer miles in the chapels up here.”

 

“Maybe we should introduce him to Laura,” Dan mutters and Kyle looks at him, impressed.

 

“Now this sounds like a good idea. Do you think we can get rid of her here?”

 

“God knows, where did she go after that morning anyway?” Dan asks, genuinely worried she might be standing round the corner.

 

“I don’t have a clue. You not still following her online?”

 

“I’m too scared to look,” he admits. He glances out of the window and sees they are pulling up to a fancy high end shopping precinct. “Well, if we have to spend money on something, it might as well be the rings,” he says, resigned that this was probably going to cost more than he had planned.

 

“You’re gonna love it babes…Jewellery? Woohoo!” he yelps loudly and Kyle throws his arms in the air in celebration as they climb out of the car and pay the driver quickly. Dan rolls his eyes, not excited about the prospect of more rings, only just getting used to his engagement ring. Kyle notices as his fiancé’s fingers absentmindedly start twisting the black band on his left hand. “You decided what your gonna do with that one?” he asks, gently moving forward to grab the man’s hand to stop the fidgeting.

 

“Huh?” Dan stops suddenly, Kyle bumping into his back at the sudden halt. “Oh this?”

 

“You’re totally in your own head today,” Kyle murmurs as he pulls the man towards into his side and slides an arm around his waist before placing a chaste kiss on his forehead. Dan hums at the feeling. “You sure you’re okay with all of this?”

 

The singer looks up at the younger man and just smiles and nods at him. Kyle can see the surety in his blue eyes and feels a lot happier about everything. “Awesome, this place then,” he says as he spies a boutique jewellery store a few shops down and walks quickly towards it, causing Dan to rush slightly to keep up.

 

They pull the white wood and glass door open and step inside as a quaint chiming of a bell goes off. Compared to the rest of the shops in the mall this one was relatively empty, but it was the natural wood and slate displays in the window that had attracted Kyle to it from a distance.

 

Despite having no windows to the outside, the shop was brightly lit and felt like it was filled with only natural light. The décor was simple but everything felt like it had been naturally sourced. Pieces of driftwood and a seaside type feeling made the place feel very welcoming and both men looked at each other with the same thought going through their heads – this would be the place that they found their rings.

 

“Hi there! Can I help you gentlemen with something?” a polite voice comes from a doorway at the back of the store. The accent sounded familiar and new all at the same time and Kyle could see Dan grin at the sound of it.

 

The voice belonged to a much shorter lady, who was larger than the women that usually hung around them. She had a kind round face and deep brown lightly waving hair lying around her shoulders. She had basic make up covering her and making her almost olive skin seem flawless. She was wearing jeans and a white V-necked t-shirt and Kyle could see she was wearing flip flops from where he was standing.

 

“Oh, hi!” the singer steps forward, offering his hand to the woman and smiling his endearing shy smile at her as she shakes it. “I’m Dan, and this is Kyle, we were looking for some wedding rings please?” he adds, not knowing whether he needed to explain anything else to her.

 

“Alright then,” she says brightly and smiles at Kyle as well. “Well, I’m Rosie and let’s see what we can do for you eh?” the now obvious South African accent coming through more strongly. “I’m glad you’re from the UK because I find it difficult to keep my accent down for the Americans,” she jokes and Dan laughs with her.

 

“Where are you from originally?” Dan asks her conversationally, genuinely interested and Kyle can see already he has made a new friend and the singer will be exchanging details before they leave.

 

“Cape Town,” she says and pulls two black leather and chrome bar stools out from behind the counter for the met to sit on. The stark contrast to the wood and white was startling.

 

“Oh, cool. My parents are from Durban,” he tells her as she starts to potter around, lifting up trays and looking back at the men, scrutinising their faces and hands before placing a number of different options in front of them.

 

“Awesome! Not you though?” Rosie says more than asks and Dan laughs.

 

“No, not me. London,” he says and points to himself.

 

“Well, I’m taking a wild guess here and saying you two are marrying each other? I don’t mean to but it’s not often that grooms come in here without their fiancés, so…” and she trails off, looking at them both expectantly.

 

“Yeah, we’re marrying each other,” Kyle pipes up and smiles at her and then at Dan. The woman looks down at his long, slender fingers adorned in his many rings.

 

“You like your jewellery don’t you?” she comments and picks up his left hand and inspects his ring finger, smiling softly when she looks at the tattoo at the base of it. “I take it this is you?” she glances up at the singer who blushes at the question.

 

She doesn’t wait for an answer and gets the large collection of ring sizes out and measure out Kyle’s ring finger before writing down a number of things on a pad she had next to her. She then moves slightly and holds her hand out to Dan who then hands her his left hand. She gently pulls off the engagement ring and looks at it.

 

“This is a lovely piece,” she comments to no one in particular. “You should have it resized and you could wear it on your other hand,” she adds and picks up his left hand and then looks carefully at the fingers before placing it onto his middle finger. It slides easily into place like it had always been there. “Oh will you look at that! No resizing needed,” and she smiles at the dark haired man.

 

They spend the next half an hour chatting and looking at the different designs Rosie had available in their sizes and at short notice. Kyle got overly excited when one particular ring had been pulled out. It was a thick brass type metal and the design was a large triangular hole. He beamed and looked like a puppy at Christmas when he looked over at Dan.

 

“No,” is all Dan said to him with a stern look, and Kyle pouted in return, screwing up his nose.

 

Finally, they decided on two bands that complimented each other without being obvious. Kyle’s ring was a titanium metal band, inlaid with black cherry wood, the rings from the wood still visible and with a turquoise inlay to a small part of it that the younger man had fallen in love with as soon as he had seen it. Dan’s was a thinner band, made out of black zirconium giving it a polished grey effect to compliment his engagement ring. But to tie it in with Kyle’s, it was lined with olivewood, giving it that natural and organic touch.

 

Placing both rings on their respective fingers made the whole thing seem so real. They look at each other as they do it and both start to laugh hysterically, before realising where they were and trying to calm themselves down and apologising profusely to the woman watching them with a smile in her eyes.

 

“Don’t be silly, you two are adorable!” Rosie comments as she starts to put away all the different discarded options. “When is the big day?” she asks and the two of them look at each other again.

 

“Tomorrow morning before we sound check, as long as we can get in,” Kyle tells her, and she raises her eyebrows.

 

“Sound check?”

 

“Oh, yeah, we’re in a band,” Dan tells her quietly, still not comfortable after all these years talking about it.

 

“Really? I take it you’re the singer?” she looks at Kyle as she says it and Kyle snorts loudly, that it even made Dan jump with surprise.

 

“No, mate, I can’t sing,” he tells her and Dan jostles his shoulder.

 

“Not true,” he says and Kyle just gives him a look. “No Kyle plays…”

 

“Everything?” Kyle supplies and Dan sticks his tongue out at him.

 

“…synths mainly. I sing,” he says and Kyle sees the flush of pink dusting his cheeks as he admits it.

 

“Really?” the woman asks again, clearly surprised.

 

“He’s a lot better when he actually performs,” Kyle tells her and she smiles at them widely. “He forgets he’s meant to be scared,” he adds and pulls a face at his friend. “Oh, you want tickets? We’re playing tomorrow nearby, if you aren’t busy?” Kyle offers and Dan just looks at him dumbstruck. He had never been able to talk to people as smoothly as this man could.

 

“Yeah!” Rosie answers, slightly surprised at the offer. “What’s the name of the band so I can listen before we get there, my husband will love it,” she adds. “Can I bring my daughter? She’s fourteen?” Kyle nods quickly at the question.

 

Dan pulls out his bank card and hands it to the woman as she rings up their purchases and bags them carefully before giving the rings to the men.

 

“It’s Bastille,” Dan tells her and writes his number down on her pad so she can get in touch if they have any trouble on the door. They both leave the shop with another ring of the bell on the door.

 

“Well, let’s go and get this venue booked then,” Dan says to him, finally happy that he will be marrying the love of his life in less than twenty-four hours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys!
> 
> So some links for you - and side note if I ever reference anything without a link and you want to know what they look like just ask and i'll try and find one!
> 
> https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/313492824054451057 triangle ring is the first one on this page. 
> 
> http://www.wedgewoodrings.com/purchase/black-zirconium-wood-ring-lined-with-bethlehem-olivewood Dan's Ring
> 
> https://www.etsy.com/listing/172929853/black-cherry-burl-turquoise-inlay Kyle's Ring


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Everyone!!
> 
> So here it is! A Christmas posting for you!! I thought I would be extra nice and put this up for you as it is Christmas and everything!!
> 
> As always, let me know what you think. 
> 
> And have a GREAT CHRISTMAS or HANUKKAH or whatever amazing festival you choose to celebrate. 
> 
> Peace and Love <333

Chapter Fourteen

The rest of that evening passed like any other. The boys met up with the rest of the group in the bar, and pretty much kept to themselves what they had been doing all day. They had managed to book a chapel for ten the following morning, but other than Charlie – who, only knew that they were going to married while they were there – they hadn’t told any of the rest of them what was going on.

 

Neither of the men slept that night, but also, neither of them wanted to alert the other to their sleeping problem. So they both lay in their hotel bed, quietly as possible in the surrounding silence trying to imagine what the rest of their lives were going to be like together.

 

**_November 2009_ **

Kyle pulls up outside the unassuming student style block of flats in a quiet suburb of the capital in a black cab. He still had no idea exactly why he was doing this, but there was something about the way the slim, blue eyed, wild haired boy had talked when he had met him that meant he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to at least listen to the music he claimed to have written.

 

Plus, it wasn’t as if he had anything else better to do. Being twenty one and still working odd jobs around the city and having no direction in his life didn’t exactly make for thrilling days. And if he had to listen to his mother complain any more about his _direction_ , he may just throttle her.

 

He gets out of the vehicle and pulls at his shirt to straighten it up. He had gone simple with a layered look. Slightly baggier jeans and a black t-shirt with a blue vertical striped shirt, unbuttoned and topped off with his old leather jacket. He runs his hands through his slightly too long hair and then flattens his goatee. Kyle didn’t think he had ever been this nervous before.

 

Dan Smith he had said his name was. Dan _‘come and join my_ band’ Smith. He chuckles at the memory of the slightly tipsy man trying to explain to him how they were going to ‘take over the world’ with a whole load of songs he had written in his bedroom. Not love songs – he had to stress that a number of times over and over, before Kyle had had to squeeze his shoulder and assure him that he had now been made fully aware that he wasn’t writing love songs.

 

He walks up to the main entrance of the block and stares at the metal entry system. He looks down at his hand to see his own handwriting with the number 31 staring back at him. He looks at the buzzers for a moment before realising the wires had all been cut to the speaker. He signs and pushes forcefully at the door before it gives way and opens for him. Sprinting up the concrete stairs to the second floor, he finds himself in front of a burgundy wood and glass door with a brass three and one adorning it and a handwritten note proclaiming all that lived inside sellotaped to the middle and decorated with swirls and flowers.

 

There the name was – second from the bottom. Kyle didn’t know why but his stomach jumped at the sight of the handwritten name second from the bottom. Just below it was the name “Sophie Foster’ and a love heart net to both of the names. He looks at it and rolls his name before sighing loudly.

 

“Figures,” he mutters to himself, disappointed that he had even gotten his hopes up. He takes a moment to consider walking away completely, but as he turns away he changes his mind again. “Screw it, got nothing to lose,” he says and knocks loudly on the door to the beat of ‘shave and a haircut’.

 

He hears loud footsteps and talking behind the door before it is pulled open by a happy looking blond girl with blue eyes. Small dimples were starting to form in her cheeks as her smile grew wider at the sight of a stranger on her doorstep. Kyle could see the question of who he was before she even had to answer anything.

 

“Erm, hi,” he stutters quickly. “I was looking for Dan? He told me he lived here?”

 

“Oh my fucking god!” the exclamation comes from the end of the long hall behind the girl. “You actually came!” and the lanky man excitedly rushes down the corridor and grabs Kyle’s hand, pulling him into the house.

 

“Hi Dan’s new friend,” the girl call after them and Kyle manages to shoot a wave behind him as he is whisked away and into a rather messy and overfilled single room.

 

“Alright, sit down,” Dan says, smiling widely and pushing washing and clothes off of the single bed and then placing Kyle in front of it and pushing down on the taller man’s shoulders so he sat. Kyle looked a bit confused at the sight of the room, clearly not one of someone in a committed relationship and thinks he must have this as a spare room for his own things.

 

“So, you play synths and keys right?” and he looks at the man wide eyed and questioning. The sight of the wide eyed innocence and deep blue orbs, so extraordinary on someone who had such dark hair, just caused Kyle to be dumbstruck and speechless. All he was able to do was nod in agreement. “That’s so cool, and I have been looking for someone for so long to do that! Everyone I ask just seemed to think I was rambling or drunk when I asked, but you _actually came_!”

 

At the admission that Dan had been asking other people to join his band actually made Kyle’s heart sink even further. A fantastically enthusiastic guy, strikingly handsome and – if he was to believed – talented as well, and he was in a straight relationship and asking everyone who even hinted at music to join the band. Oh well, at least this might make his life a bit more exciting if he was to get in he thinks mentally shrugging off what he had thought _might_ have happened when he arrived at the flat.

 

“So, anyway, this is one of the songs, let me know if you think it’s any good or something you’d want to be involved in,” he chats away to himself as he sets up his Casio keyboard, very sweetly adorned on the back with ‘DAN SMITH’ in white tape. He plays a couple of notes to get ready and then starts to play chord progressions before starting to sing:

 

_“You took me to your favourite place on earth,_

_To see the tree they cut down ten years from your birth_

_Our fingers traced in circles round it’s history_

_We brushed our hand right back in time through centuries,”_

As he listens to the music flowing around the small room, somehow making it feel like a concert performance rather than a quick show to someone new in the tiny box room. He listens to the different way the man sings his syllables and completely ignores trying to make himself sound American – happy to make his accent obvious through his words. The song is beautiful. The lyrics talking to Kyle’s very soul, and as he sits, open mouthed and entranced, a small voice starts to pipe up in the back of Kyle’s head;

 

**“Dude, you’re screwed.”**

**_Present Day_ **

“What are you gonna wear?” Kyle asks, looking at his pile of clothes, strewn haphazardly over the suitcase in the corner of the room. He’s holding a red sock in one hand and a black t-shirt with cats forming a skull in the other.

 

Dan wanders out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel tied around his waist, his hair wet and plastered to his forehead and droplets of shower water dripping down his chest.

 

“Oh, fuck baby, really?” Kyle breathes as he looks lustfully at him.

 

“What?” Dan asks him trying to act confused, but the glint in his eye knowing full well what he was doing as his eyes trailed down Kyle’s bare chest and to the tenting he could see starting to form in his pyjama trousers. Dan had always been self-conscious about his body. He never let the cameras or media see what he looked like underneath his baggy shirts, but Kyle was lucky enough to see it, caress it and revel in the glory of it.

 

There was no hair, and he was constantly worried about the fact that he had quickly lost a lot of weight when he was a teenager and going to university, but Kyle thought his skin was soft, flawless and the best looking thing he had ever seen.

 

Kyle walks over to him and slides his hands down the damp sides of his partner and clasp behind his back, enjoying the shiver he could draw from the singer at his touch. “we do not have time for this!” Kyle growls lowly in the singer’s ear and then nips softly at his ear lobe, causing the man to moan. “Now what the hell are you wearing?” he asks raising his eye brows.

 

Dan pulls away quickly, rolling his eyes and walking over to his own suitcase. He pulls his jeans out and holds the up. Kyle nods in agreement. Then he holds up the black t-shirt with ‘I killed Laura Palmer’ on it, and Kyle nods again, not even bothering to hide his smirk at the statement the t-shirt was making. It hadn’t been until they had been talking about the girl at dinner the night before that they had all realised that Laura’s surname was in fact ‘Palmer’. Finally, he holds up a pair of socks and his chucks.

 

“Not gonna show me your underwear too?” Kyle asks him, teasingly.

 

“What underwear?” is all Dan replies with a smirk, and walks back into the bathroom with his clothes.

 

\---

The Uber pulls up outside the location they had booked for the morning. It was down the road from the marriage license bureau they had been to the previous day, but it felt like it was in the middle of nowhere. The building was a single storey old style shack, with exciting and colourful graffiti on the outside and a cast iron roof. Dan saw it online and immediately loved how rustic and different it looked.

 

“Did you get anything back from them?” Kyle asks the singer, clearly fidgeting and worried about everything. He had chosen to wear his own skinny jeans and Air Max’s with his ‘Hello Kitty’ t-shirt on top. They had both decided they wanted to be as natural and comfortable as possible and this is how they wanted to start the rest of their life.

 

“Just a whole load of question marks from Woody and Will. Nothing from Charlie,” Dan replies and he takes hold of both of the younger man’s hands and starts to rub the backs of them with soothing circles to try and calm him down.

 

Kyle smiles bashfully at him. Dan giggled at the sight. He would never have thought that Kyle would be the nervous one, but looking at him as he bounced up and down on the balls of his feet, looking left and right up and down the road to look for cars, Dan couldn’t help but feel the settle of happiness in his very soul.

 

A black Prius pulls up next to them without warning and Kyle jumps back quickly to avoid being clipped by the front bumper. He gives the driver a look that could kill at ten paces. Since the accident he now always took extra care when he was around any kind of road vehicle.

 

Woody, Coop and Will all jump out of the back and Will throws some dollar bills into the driver’s window to pay for the ride as the others all walk up to the couple waiting there. Woody shoves his sunglasses up his nose, his long hair whipping around in the light dessert breeze and Coop and Will just look at them confused.

 

“What the hell is going on?” the sound man asks them, genuinely intrigued. Luckily, the building had no obvious signage on the outside apart from the door and so none of the newcomers could easily tell where they were.

 

“Yeah, guys, this is mad. One text with an address and a time and nothing else?” Woody adds and looks around. “No instruments so I guess it’s not a show,” he adds and looks at Coop to try and help him.

 

“Don’t look at me! I know nothing about what these guys do!” he exclaims, punching Kyle in the shoulder and earning himself a glare in return.

 

Dan glances down at his retro watch and sees the time is inching closer to ten. It was just Charlie they were waiting for now, and if the man didn’t turn up soon he was going to miss the whole thing. Which as he was going to be Kyle’s best man, would be a lot worse than if the other’s hadn’t shown.

 

A screeching of brakes and tyres suddenly sounds and Charlie is climbing out of a traditional red and white convertible car from the 1960’s, pulling a guitar case from the back seat and holding the passenger door open for Sharon and Jools.

 

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I know I’m late, but seriously trying to get this done at the last minute was a nightmare, thanks for the heads up,” he adds to his brother and does a scarily similar death glare as Kyle. Dan still can’t believe it wasn’t obvious they were related sooner. “These are yours, for later,” he adds and drops the rental car keys in Dan’s hands, earning a confused look from the singer. “I’ll explain after.”

 

“Let’s go in then,” Dan says and claps his hands together and turns towards the door.

 

“Why is no one explaining what’s happening?” he hears Will ask no one in particular from the back of the group and Dan just smiles to himself.

 

They had already checked in with the reception staff and so it was now purely a case of waiting to be called in. Dan was called in first as the one to be standing at the altar first, and Kyle and Charlie stayed out in the deceptively large reception area.

 

As they walked in through the reclaimed wooden double doors, the rest of the group suddenly took a collective gasp as they realised what they were walking into. The room was simple. There were black worn leather chairs down each side of a makeshift aisle, on top of old reclaimed wooden floorboards. At the end of the room was a large wall made of old bricks from floor to ceiling. The room was rustic and had pure charm and there was a young woman standing at the end of the aisle holding a file and waiting for them.

 

“So yeah,” Dan suddenly says after they had all taken in their surroundings. “Come to our wedding?”

 

“You total fucker!” Woody cries and pulls the singer into a massive bear hug, almost crushing his lungs and his ability to breathe.

 

“Did Charlie know about this?” Coop asks, next in line to hug the man and Dan just nods shyly.

 

“Stop fucking surprising me!” Will admonishes lastly and Dan just nods at him and hugs the man, and receiving his own kiss to his temple.

 

“Sorry to interrupt, but are we ready?” the woman asks Dan, and he looks around and just nods.

 

“Oh, shit no!” he cries quickly and rushes back down the aisle to the reception area.

 

He bursts through the doors and gets a surprised look from Charlie and Kyle.

 

“I need Charlie,” he says to Kyle.

 

“But he’s walking me down the aisle!” Kyle says petulantly.

 

“I need Charlie!” Dan says again, clearly not taking no for an answer. “Hang on!” he adds and disappears back into the hall to return thirty seconds later with Jools.

 

“You have Jools, I’ll have Charlie,” is all he says and pulls the confused man back into the venue, without Kyle being able to say anything in return.

 

Silence spreads through the room insidiously before either one of them speaks. When they do it is at exactly the same time. They realise and both nervously laugh. Kyle puts a hand out to let Jools speak first.

 

“Look, I know I’m probably not who you want to give you away, but I still love you Special K,” she says. Kyle just studiously looks at the floor, not sure exactly what he was meant to say to the admission. “I was jealous and stupid, but you have to be a blind, deaf idiot not to see how absolutely madly in love you two are with each other. I’m not gonna stand between that. You are my _best friend_ , and yeah there was a time I wanted more than that, but definitely not now. Let me give you away? Because I want to make sure the one who gets you for life is the one who deserves you, and that man is standing at the end of that aisle waiting for you right now.”

 

Kyle glances up and straight into the eyes of his oldest friend. He can see the tears falling from her eyes and hear the emotion in her voice, and he can barely stop his own tears from falling. He knows that if he says anything that the dam will break and he will be crying for hours, so all he can do is smile and nod, pulling the girl into a tight, warm embrace.

 

“Let’s go do this,” she whispers into his ear, and they both turn and each pull a door open.

 

From deep within the venue room, an acoustic guitar starts to play familiar notes and chords. A memory starts stirring within Kyle and he can remember almost clear as day the first time he had heard that very song – not knowing he was listening to his soul mate;

 

_“You took me to your favourite place on earth,_

_To see the tree they cut down ten years from your birth_

_Our fingers traced in circles round it_ _’s history_

_We brushed our hand right back in time through centuries,_ _”_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also if anyone wants to chat or offer up comments in private, I’m on twitter and tumblr...come find me <33


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys!! Here it is, as promised on a Friday...just!!
> 
> Thanks for sticking with me for this epic journey!! Hope you aren't getting bored, let me know. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!

Chapter Fifteen

After the wedding, Charlie had insisted they take the Chevy convertible for a drive, and Dan had had great fun blasting classic tunes out of the original radio speakers with the top down and they both yelled at the top of their lungs as they raced down the wide empty roads surrounding the desert city.

 

An hour away from the main strip of the city they had arrived at Lake Mead, a beautiful nature reserve and lake, and being the time of year it was, even though it was still pretty sunny and warm, the tourists had clearly decided it was not the time of year to do anything outdoorsy and the boys had the majority of the park to themselves. They had managed to find an absolutely perfect parking spot overlooking the lake, and they both got out of the car and stretched their long limbs after being confined in the car in the same position for so long. As Dan stretched he could feel all of the kinks and tension escape his body in the peace and tranquil atmosphere.

 

“Come on, help me up here!” he says, excitedly and rushes to the front of the car, and puts one foot on the chrome bumper and clumsily climbs onto the bonnet of the classic car.

 

“Babes! This isn’t our car!” Kyle exclaims and looks around quickly to make sure they weren’t being caught on camera or about to be shouted at for doing something they weren’t meant to.

 

Dan laughs at his husband and manages to get on the car without scratching or denting it. He sits down with his knees pulled up to his chest and he just gazes lovingly at the younger man, holding out his hand to him.

 

“You know, for someone who is so sarcastic and outspoken, you don’t half play by the rules, Mr Simmons.”

 

Kyle sticks out his bottom lip at the older man and reaches his own hand out to entwine their fingers together. As soon as they are connected Dan pulls with all his might and Kyle stumbles inelegantly into the car himself, causing the singer to laugh even harder. The taller man tuts and shakes his head at Dan as he puts a knee either side of the singer and then grabs at the back of the hood pulling himself on top of him. He watches his own reflection in the polarised blue lenses of the other man’s sunglasses before bringing his forehead down to touch Dan’s.

 

“This is a little public, don’t you think?” Dan gulps, feeling the light breath of his man ghosting over his face, the fluttering wings of butterflies beating in his chest and stomach like he hadn’t felt for a very long time.

 

Kyle cockily raises an eyebrow before reaching forward and kissing Dan hard, and dirty. He pushes his tongue deep into his husband’s mouth, before pulling off ever so slightly and then he bites at his lower lip, sucking it into his own mouth. A filthy moan erupts from Dan and he can feel the smirk of Kyle’s lips at the noise.

 

“Back in the car. Now,” Kyle growls at the singer, and Dan wastes no time sliding quickly off the car and pulling the door open before tumbling into the back seat, quickly followed by the leaner man.

 

Kyle rearranges them so that he is now straddling Dan’s hips and he reaches back down to kiss him again. Dan grabs at Kyle’s sides, and pulls his shirt up at the back so he can finally get his hands on the familiar coarse hair underneath. Kyle gets the message and pulls his shirt and over his head and throws it in the front of the car.

 

Dan takes the moment they are apart to look at the man he loves and he revels in the familiar smooth skin, dark chest hair and erect dusky nipples. He arches upwards and takes one of them in his mouth, sucking hard, causing Kyle to cry out in pleasure as he is caught off guard. Kyle pushes him back down onto the seat with both hands on his shoulders and Dan watches as he looks down on him with hooded eyes.

 

“How the hell are you still as stunning as the day I met you?” Kyle gushes suddenly, and Dan blushes, soft pink blazing on his cheek bones. “I can’t believe I have you forever now,” he adds, and Dan cranes his head up to claim his mouth again.

 

Dan then manages to remove his own top, and Kyle immediately latches onto his neck and starts to trail kisses down it towards his chest. He sucks equally at each nipple in turn, before continuing the trail down towards the man’s navel. He licks into his belly button, and draws out an almost pornographic whine at the sensation and he locks eyes with the man again.

 

Both men can feel the erections straining in their underwear, but neither man feels the want to completely disrobe in public and they can’t stop touching each other long enough to do anything about it. Dan reaches up to kiss Kyle again, and so in order to get them both the relief they craved, Kyle uses his height and position advantage to grind down into the man below him.

 

A pace is created quickly and they gyrate forcefully against each other. Panting quickly between sloppy tongue filled kisses – the noises fill the car, and Kyle can feel the sheen of sweat on his upper body. Dan lifts his hips upwards one final time before his vision whites out and his release spills out of him quickly. Kyle follows quickly with a loud moan, and his legs tremble and he collapses to the side of the man under him.

 

\---

They had had to remove and discard of their now ruined underwear by the time they had received a text message with a Sat Nav code and deadline from the rest of the guys, and after a quick freshen up in the very handily located showers in the public restrooms, they had made the hour long drive back into the city. Which is where they found themselves now.

 

Kyle loved his brother, but he really wished he had given them a bit of a heads up that he had booked them somewhere a bit more upmarket for their early dinner. While they had managed to stay nice and relaxed and casual for the ceremony, now they were sitting in a four and a half star Gordon Ramsay restaurant in the middle of the Paris complex, both Kyle and Dan were feeling a little bit conspicuous in their jeans and trainer combination they were currently wearing – along with their commando situation.

 

Dan fidgets in his chair as he looked around the dining room. The hostess had clearly been concerned when they had asked for the reservation that had been made for them, but had shown them to their table with a disgusted look as she left, the hem of her skin tight black mini dress and her scraped back dark hair even managing to make the men feel uncomfortable.

 

Looking up at the overdone Union Flag on the ceiling of the room, and then back to the iPad built into the table to choose their drinks, he then just looks directly at Kyle and whistles lowly whilst raising both eyebrows.

 

“Dude, Charlie went all out, eh?”

 

“Yeah,” Kyle agrees, flicking through the menu to decide what he wanted to eat. “I think you pay him too much,” he adds with a smirk, and he visibly perks up as two champagne glasses are placed on the edge of the table by a young male server.

 

The pearly white smile and over tanned skin was a major contrast against each other, and then combined with his starched white shirt and black slacks, Dan thought the man looked more unwell than ‘glowing’, which was probably not the look he had been going for.

 

“Ooh, Kir Royale!” Kyle exclaims, surprisingly high pitched for him, but Dan just knew that meant he was overly excited.

 

“Yes, sirs, compliments of the house with it being your big day,” the man says to them and then majestically sweeps away with Kyle and Dan gaping from the table.

 

“Wow, and I thought that guy at Syon House was gay,” Kyle comments.

 

“Ky!” admonishes Dan with a look, but secretly did have to agree with the man.

 

“What? Oh don’t go all boring on me now we’re married,” and Dan giggles loudly, toasting his husband.

 

After a gigantic meal of Beef Wellington and then elaborate chocolate desserts, Kyle and Dan have drunk enough to be on the slightly happier side of tipsy, when they remember they actually had a show to prepare for. The others had let them off with the sound check that afternoon, but they were due to go on in a few hours and they both had to get a bit more sober before then.

 

Ordering a couple of stronger than usual coffees – even for them – they are delivered to the table and Dan starts to warm up his voice. Kyle watches him as he sips at the warm caffeine and then goes through a few scales as loudly as he felt both comfortable and able to.

 

Unable to stop himself he pulls out his phone and starts to record his husband sing small parts of the songs he was planning on performing that evening.

 

“Dan, hey Dan,” he calls over the table and the singer looks up mid lyric and notices the camera pointed at him, so he flips it off quickly before hiding his blushing face behind his coffee. “See and we were meant to be celebrating and all he can think about is work,” Kyle jokes to the camera and gives the lens a disapproving look before hitting send and sending it to all of their followers online.

 

“I hate you,” comes from across the table.

 

“Too late babes, stuck with me now,” comes the retort with a raised eyebrow and a chuckle.

 

\---

“You’re pissed!” Woody cries when the couple finally pitch up at the venue a ninety minutes later.

 

“ _No_!” Dan says vehemently directly at the pointed finger in his face from the drummer. “Coffee, I’m as sober as a totally sober thing,” he adds, and then furrows his brow trying to make sense of the sentence he had just said.

 

“Kyle! You were meant to look after – oh for god’s sake what the hell was I thinking?” Will starts and then realises exactly what he was about to ask the synth player. Kyle just smiles widely at him.

 

“Will, buddy, _pal,_ ” he says and puts one hand on his shoulder and the other one over his heart. “We will be fine. He has performed much drunker than this before,” he adds, patting the man’s chest a couple of times before falling over onto the sofa that was in the room they had been allocated to wait in.

 

A lot of commotion and shuffling started going on outside of the door, and all of the people in the room started to look at each other, curiously wondering what was going on and whether they should go out and see what was happening.

 

Suddenly the door bursts open and a loud familiar voice starts to fill the room.

 

“Take your hands off of me! I just want to see my daughter for goodness sake!” the loud, brash, woman cries and as soon as she sees Sharon she immediately fawns over her and rushes over to pull her into an entirely uninterested hug as she glances around the room simultaneously to see who could see her.

 

“Mum? What the hell are you doing here?” she exclaims, clearly confused and surprised that the woman was currently in front of her and trying to show some sort of maternal interest.

 

“My girl is about to sing in _Vegas_! This is the holy grail, darling, what we worked for all of these years!” she shouts loudly, throwing her hands and arms around in an entirely over the top manner, which would be hilarious if the woman hadn’t been so poisonous. Imperceptibly, Charlie moves closer to his fiancée to try and protect her in some way.

 

“We need better security,” Kyle says to the ceiling and to anyone else who may have been listening. He notices the glare he gets from Margaret in response, and then sees the completely confused look from Jools who had been watching it all. “I’ll explain everything later,” he tells her and rolls his eyes.

 

“What. The. Fuck. Are. You. Doing. Here?” Dan punctuates every single word of the question as he spits them at the older woman now standing in his presence. “And don’t bullshit us with this ‘ _you’re here for Sharon’_ crap, because we all know you only want the fame that comes with having a talented daughter.”

 

Margaret turns away from Sharon and looks full on at the singer. She was a tall woman and was only slightly shorter than Dan who was standing at six foot one. She stares intently into the man’s sapphire eyes and tilts her head slightly before starting to talk again.

 

“Well, to be honest _Daniel_ , I was worried about my little girl. Stuck around a load of men, one of who was questioned for sex offences with his fiancé’s sister, and who is currently in denial about his love child and seen manhandling her by a load of your fans. What kind of mother would I be if I didn’t make sure she was alright?”

 

Kyle immediately flies forward and has to be held back by Charlie and Woody, as Will heads to the door and sticks his head out calling for someone.

 

Dan smiles and breaks eye contact with the woman before walking over to the younger man and putting his hand on his cheek, rubbing his thumb over the soft beard hair.

 

“Baby, calm down,” he says and pecks his lips quickly before looking back to see redness over the woman’s face.

 

A wide, muscular bald headed man in a black t-shirt and combat trousers comes marching in quickly and starts towards Margaret, but she waves him off.

 

“Don’t worry, I’m leaving,” she says airily, regaining her composure quickly. “Just remember Dan, you wouldn’t be anywhere without your fans,” she adds as she walks towards the door.

 

“Husband,” comes a voice from behind her as she is literally about to leave.

 

“What?” she asks, stopping, but not looking at the man.

 

“You said fiancé,” Dan explains. “He’s my husband.”

 

A barely noticeable flinch went through the woman’s body as there is a moment of silence and then she storms out of the door followed by the security man.

 

\---

There was nothing but the clacking of high heels on concrete as Margaret storms out into the cooler night air of the music venue. Small groups of fans are milling around, waiting for the doors to open and she gives them all disdainful looks as she walks over to an innocuous out building near the wire fence surrounding the land.

 

A smaller shadow walks out towards her and she smiles as she notices it.

 

“Go on then, do your stuff,” she says, smirking proudly as the young brunette walks past her and towards the entrance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone has an amazing New Year...mine will be spent with Rag 'n Bone Man : )
> 
> Any suggestions, ideas or anything for plots for this I am all ears....I know where its going, but would be great to see what y'all thing. 
> 
> Happy New Year when it comes!! <33


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

“I _seriously hate_ that woman,” Kyle shouts, frustrated at what had just happened and he walks over to the sofa to punch a cushion, conveniently left there. He looks around when there was no more talking from anyone else in the room and everyone else is looking at Sharon to make sure she is alright. “Sorry Sharon,” Kyle mumbles, forgetting that his soon to be sister in law was in the room too.

 

“Pfft,” she says to him, and waves her hand. “Mate, the amount of shit she’s put you through, I’m surprised you didn’t strangle her on sight.” But no one misses the way she moves closer to Charlie and leans against him for support.

 

Dan suddenly feels a lot more sober and he moves over to the tea and coffee making facilities they have in the dressing room for them to make themselves comfortable. He checks the kettle to make sure there is water in it before flicking the switch and pulls a number of mugs out to make them all drinks.

 

“I take it everyone wants one?” he asks, pointing to the mugs, and the rest of the guys just nod or shake their heads in reply.

 

Once he has made the hot drinks he hands Kyle his coffee and takes a deep drink of his own. The younger man pulls on his hand and drags him over to the sofa to sit down next to him, throwing his arm around the man’s shoulders and pulling him close.

 

“Don’t let that evil witch destroy today,” he whispers to his husband and strokes the dark hair he loves so much. He curls a few strands and Dan automatically leans in to the touch, sighing at the intimate touch that Kyle usually only leaves for when they are alone together.

 

“I know,” Dan replies and takes a sip from his cup. Kyle looks around the room and sees that Will is filling Jools in on everything she didn’t already know, drinking from his own cup of tea that he had been given from the singer. Jools then gets up and leaves the room quickly, without a backwards glance. Kyle gently tugs on his head and places a kiss on his temple.

 

“C’mon dude, let’s warm up yeah?” Charlie leans over the back of the couch, pinching Dan’s ear lobe to get his attention, and clearly wanting to take everyone’s attention away from what had just happened. “Let’s give this weirdo something else to post on social media,” he adds and thumbs towards Kyle, who automatically grins in response, the cheekiness shining through his eyes and automatically making Dan smile in return.

 

“Yeah! Can I make you look stupid? Aw, come on, you know I love doing that!” he pleads, literally getting on his knees and putting his hands in a praying position and looking up at his husband from beneath his long eyelashes.

 

“Well I can see that’s clearly a common position for you Kyle,” Woody comments and laughs from behind them and earns a smack from Sharon with her exclaiming _“ew, gross!”_ at the same time.

 

“No, cos you should be joining us too,” Dan finally replies through his laughter at the whole situation.

 

“Pfft,” he scoffs. “When did I last warm up before a gig?” comes the reply and everyone around the room just looks at each other and reluctantly agrees with the comment.

 

“Might be the reason we’re so shit all the time,” Will replies, thoughtfully.

 

“Speak for yourself, granddad,” Kyle exclaims. “My babes is always awesome,” he protects Dan fiercely and gets himself off of the floor with a groan and cracking of his knees, earning a pointed look from the bass player, with him mouthing _‘granddad’_ back at him.

 

The door opens again and Jools stands there looking at everyone with the door still open. The cheers and screaming can be heard muffled by the corridors, but still prominent enough for the band to hear, and cause nerves to start in the pit of Dan’s stomach the way it always does before any show.

 

“Right guys, you ready?” Jools asks, holding the for them as they all nod, and start to file out one by one, being led by Will.

 

Kyle watches as Dan bounces on the balls of his feet quickly, obviously trying to psych himself up for the next couple of hours. He puts his cup down and walks over to his husband and holds both of his hands in his own, trying to soothe his nerves.

 

“Drink your coffee and get out there, killer,” Kyle tells him softly, and Dan looks up at him with that same loving look he has given him since the first day he met him. The blue eyes, wide and full of wonder, and Kyle has always wondered exactly what this beautiful man found so fascinating about him.

 

Dan drains his cup quickly and reaches up to grab the back of Kyle’s neck and pull him down into a quick but passionate embrace. As their tongues dance for dominance, all Kyle can taste is the lingering bitterness of the caffeine his man has just finished and he hums in delight before Dan eventually pulls off and finishes the kiss.

 

“That’s better,” Dan says with a smirk, as he observes Kyle’s eyes stay close and his attempt to chase the singer’s mouth as he pulls away. He walks away, feeling a lot more confident and with a slight swagger before grabbing a water bottle and heading out the door. Kyle can’t help but admire the disappearing behind of his new husband and smiles self-indulgently as he rushes after him.

 

\---

“God, take your fucking time why don’t you!” Woody cries as they all stand in the wings waiting to go out.

 

“Sorry, sorry,” Dan apologises quickly, but all Kyle does is raise his middle finger as he doesn’t even stop and walks directly into the blackness of the stage and towards his set up at the far side of the stage to an increase in cheers from the crowd.

 

“Has he got a cup of tea again?” Will asks and Dan looks at him.

 

“Coffee,” he tells his friend and Will rolls his eyes and heads out himself, picking up his bass and pulling over his head as he gets out there.

 

Charlie and Sharon were already in place, which just left Woody and Dan to go out. Woody just claps the man on the shoulder in solidarity and heads out himself. Dan puts his ear buds in and makes sure he is able to hear the sounds he was expecting and looks for Coop to give him the thumbs up to let him know everything was ready to go.

 

The opening words to Send Them Off start with the accompanying lights and Dan walks on with his water and takes a swig quickly before throwing the bottle down on to Woody’s drum platform and starting to dance to the beat and start the song.

 

The show starts out well. Despite the ribbing from the rest of them, Kyle’s backing vocals – as always – merge with Dan’s own voice perfectly, and the sound for once seems to be perfect from the get go. The crowd seem to enjoy themselves, and the response from them was helping to relax Dan a lot.

 

He keeps looking over to the right of the stage to see Kyle looking at him periodically and smirking when he watches Dan do a particularly ‘Dan’ dance move, and he actually winks at the synth player which made his usually stoic on stage persona crack slightly with a wide grin.

 

“Oh my god, guys I don’t know if you just saw that, but Kyle Fucking Simmons just smiled on stage,” Dan can’t help but shout as it happens just after Good Grief instead of half way through one of the songs.

 

The crowd predictably responds with screams and excitement, and the rest of the guys laugh along too while Kyle flips him the bird in reply, causing more hilarity on stage, before scaring them as he starts hitting the keys for Warmth, causing the men to rush to get to their cues before the intro finished.

 

They manage to perform Lethargy and Shame with no further incidents before Dan finally stands at the front of the stage and looks over the crowd, scrutinising where would be the best and easiest place for him to get through without being mauled.

 

He could feel the change in set up go on behind him as Will moves from his microphone stand and leaves his bass behind and walk over to Dan’s keyboard. The crowd start to murmur and scream a bit more, knowing exactly what this change in set up meant, and Dan can see the shuffling of the fans in front of him as they try to determine exactly where he will go.

 

He makes an imperceptible hand gesture to Woody behind his back and the drummer counts them in before Kyle starts with one of their oldest songs. No steps were available for him to easily walk down so he the others had made sure during set up that there was a stepped area made of boxes and speakers and he hips down these one by one to get to the ground and towards a relatively less crowded area of the pit.

 

He starts singing at the right cue – still smiling to himself every time, remembering that one time Woody had completely forgotten to drum, leading to everyone on stage and even in the audience to just stop exactly what they were doing and stare at him. He had never lived that one down and at every show they played Flaws since he had always managed to hit every beat perfectly.

 

He feels the presence of the security men behind him as he walks towards the crowd of mainly girls in front of him, and he reaches out to touch all of the outstretched hands as he walked amongst them all, still singing his own lyrics as he walked. He pulls the sleeves of his black Adidas jacket up as he walks a bit further in, knowing that he was going to get his normal lecture from Kyle as soon as they get off stage.

 

_“Why do you go so far into the crowd?”_

_“They might hurt you/grope you/attack you.”_

And the things that his largely teenage fans would do to him only got more and more obscene the longer they had been in a relationship together, but Dan was adamant that as long as he was allowed, he would walk into the crowd for this song, and not even Kyle was going to stop him.

 

_“All of your flaws and all of my flaws,_

_When they have been exhumed_

_We’ll see that we need them to be who we are_

_Without them we’d be doomed,”_

He sings as he moves back towards the front of the crowd to continue on with the chorus. He stops in his tracks when he notices something out of the corner of his eye, and he looks around to see a familiar brunette standing in the crowd, right next to his elbow.

 

Laura’s hair had been styled so that it made her look a lot younger. Her normal thick make up had been toned down significantly so that she didn’t look like she was a prostitute ready to work and she was wearing modest skinny jeans and a white and black wild world t-shirt which seemed slightly too large for her still slim frame. Dan hadn’t even recognised t was her properly until he had looked her full square in the face.

 

He gives her a very confused look as she continues to sway to the music and he continues to sing, but all she does is smile as widely as possible and lean forward towards him.

 

“It’s all over now,” he hears her whisper, the words audible still above the music, the crowd and his own singing, and she steps forward so she is crowding him like so m any other girls around the singer and all of a sudden she shrieks loudly, clutches her stomach and falls to the ground.

 

As one, everyone in the crowd steps back and Dan looks to the floor and all he can see is the crumpled form of the girl on the cement floor, eyes closed and seemingly unconscious.

 

“Fuck! Medic!” he shouts into the microphone, and time around him just starts to stand still.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone,
> 
> Not got much to say really. Just want to say thank you guys again for keeping with me.
> 
> And if you want to, come and find me on tumblr, I'm basnatural.
> 
> <33


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry that this was late! 
> 
> I know I said Friday, but late Christmas Night Out took over i'm afraid!
> 
> Sorry again!

Chapter Seventeen

Dan quickly tucks the microphone he was holding into his back pocket to get it out of the way and drops to his knees next to the girl on the floor. She had crumpled like a ragdoll so quickly he wasn’t expecting it at all. She looks even younger with her face peaceful and eyes closed. He reaches his hand out to her exposed neck – her head rolled to the side where she lay – and feels for a pulse which he finds easily, pounding strongly against his fingers, and he sighs deeply in relief that she is still alive.

 

“Dan,” an unfamiliar voice comes from behind him, and a stout looking woman with a mix of brown and russet locks is looking at him, her fluorescent security jacket making her the focal point of his focus when he turns. He looks up at her from the ground with a confused expression on his face, his dark eyebrows furrowing deeply. “Dan, get back on stage, we’ll deal with this,” she says again, her voice now stern and trying to get the singer to move away from the growing crowd, gasping and screaming around him.

 

Dan looks around the immediate crowd and can feel the amount of space getting smaller and smaller by the second.

 

“Dan, get back here now,” comes the voice of his husband from the stage, and the familiar timbre and sound manages to pierce through to his brain and he immediately stands up and backs away from the girl, letting the first aiders take care of her before the paramedics can get there.

 

He puts his hand out to the woman who had spoken to him, and grabs her by the arm. She stops suddenly, obviously annoyed by being interrupted in her duties.

 

“She’s pregnant,” is all Dan says to her before letting go of the woman and moving quickly back towards the stage, not catching the surprised and grateful look the woman had cast back at him.

 

He climbs back up the speakers and onto the platform with the rest of the band, who had all congregated around Kyle and Charlie’s myriad of instruments, trying to see exactly what was going on in the pit.

 

As soon as Kyle notices him, he pushes through the rest of the men – and the two girls who had joined them – and rushes to the singer, holding him on both shoulders and scanning him up and down to make sure he was alright, before grabbing the back of his neck and pulling him into his body and in a tight embrace, as if the touch and hug made the fact he was unhurt more tangible to him.

 

“Ky, baby, I’m fine really,” he murmurs into his chest, knowing that despite the noise he would be able to tell that he had spoken. The squeeze gets tighter in response and he feels a light kiss in his hair from the man holding him.

 

“What happened dude?” Woody asks as Kyle finally lets him go and Dan manages to get a view of the scene from the better vantage point.

 

“Laura, she collapsed,” Dan says, still in shock, watching as the crowd starts to part after a few minutes and a stretcher is pulled through the space and out of the building.

 

“Fuck! That bitch is here?” Kyle almost shouts, his arms still holding onto Dan, wrapped around his waist from behind.

 

“Shush, Kyle,” Jools admonishes quickly, and points towards the microphones surrounding them. “We should go and see what’s happening with her,” she adds and gets withering looks from almost all of the men surrounding her.

 

“Kyle, you should go and see what’s happening,” Dan says quietly as his eyes finish watching the trolley leave the hall.

 

“What? No!” the younger man exclaims loudly. Dan twists in his arms and pulls away so he can look at him quickly, a disapproving look adorning his fine features.

 

“Kyle, go and make sure that girl is alright! Take Charlie and Will and at least make it look like we care will you?” he hisses to the man, and pokes him in the chest as he says it to demonstrate his point.

 

“Dan, I’m not going to see that tramp!” Kyle tells him again, angrier now that the singer was almost ordering him to do it.

 

“Kyle just fucking do it will you?” Dan says with finality, and angrily as he turns, pulls his mic out of his pocket and replaces it on the stand at his own keyboard.

 

“Oh is this how it’s gonna be is it? You just telling me what to do?” Kyle asks, standing with his hands on his hips and glaring at the back of the man.

 

“No, but the supposed mother of your child has just been carted off, how do you think it’s gonna look if you don’t go and see her huh?” Dan retorts.

 

At that Will walks over to the younger man and puts his hand on his shoulder.

 

“Kyle, Dan has a point yeah? Let’s go and we can be back soon alright?” Will murmurs in his ear, trying to calm the situation down as well as he could.  Kyle shakes his head, and stops trying to stare down Dan before looking at Will as if he had just realised he was there.

 

“Yeah, alright,” he says after a moment of silence. Will looks at Charlie and they manage to communicate silently to get the synth player off the stage, and Dan watches the three of them and Jools walk off, with a sinking feeling in his stomach.

 

“Don’t you think it was a bit weird that it happened when you were right next to her, mate?” Woody asks suspiciously, and Dan just shrugs and looks at him.

 

“I don’t know,” Dan says and looks at his old friend with wide eyes. “Why would she fake it? I mean she’s pregnant and weird things happen with that yeah?” he looks at Sharon for confirmation.

 

“Don’t look at me!” she says, shocked. “I’ve never had kids and not planning on it!” she adds vehemently.

 

Dan groans again and drags his hand down his face. Woody hands him his bottle of water which he finishes quickly and then he makes a decision.

 

“Alright then,” Dan suddenly says into his microphone again. “Sorry about that guys, but obviously we can’t be fucking about up here when there’s someone in trouble so, yeah.” He looks out at the crowd and can see they’re all looking back at him. “So we’ve lost a few people for a while, so it’s just me, Woody and Shaz, so we’ll do a couple of different number for you,” he says, making it all up as he went along.

 

He looks back at where Woody had sat back down behind his set and makes a hand gesture, that only Woody was able to decipher and he nods back at him. With that Dan starts playing his keyboard and begins playing the live piano version of Bad Blood.

 

\---

All of the group meet back at the hotel after the gig, the rest of the show being done with only Dan and Woody, and it appeared to go well and was received with vigour from the fans. Dan was going to wait for the following day to lurk online and see exactly how the crowd took it – not needing any more pressure and worry for the evening.

 

As they walk in to the lounge area, they all noticed a group of what appeared to be high class prostitutes, but Dan then did a double take and realised there was a film crew with them and realised they must be celebrities of some sort. All the women were almost orange with the fake tans and wearing crotch length glittery and sequined dresses. They all appeared to be drunk and starting to get a bit loud and rowdy.

 

Dan turns to walk out again, not wanting to be around more people that were going to scream and be loud after their last gig of the year, but Woody and Coop immediately grab a shoulder each and start to walk him backwards into the dark environment.

 

“You are getting so old, Dan!” Woody shouts in his ear and Dan rolls his eyes.

 

“Not old, sick of drama that seems to happen in these places!”

 

“Your entire life is drama mate,” Coop tells him in his other ear and pulls him past the group of girls, that all seem to take notice of the three of them and then dismiss them almost as quickly as they didn’t seem to know who they were. Dan exhales with a long slow breath, being happy that this was not going to be a problem.

 

They eventually stop walking beside a low glass table with bottles of prosecco and cocktails all over it and lit from underneath and the white light making it seem a lot cooler that it actually was. The seats were booth style on one side, upholstered in a rich red velvet and a large overstuffed sofa on the other side, with leather station and tub chairs at the end.

 

Having realised he wasn’t going to be able to make any movements on his own, Woody and Coop then manoeuvre him – or more likely manhandle him – to the sofa and then push him over onto it, the singer bouncing on the softness of the seat.

 

“Ah! My order has finally arrived! About fucking time,” Kyle proclaims loudly and throws his own arms around Dan’s shoulders and kisses him on the cheek with a loud smack. Dan looks at him from the corner of his eyes and raises his eyebrow at him. He notices that at least one of the bottle is empty and folds his arms over his chest.

 

“How long have you been here?” and Kyle blushes red on the skin visible above his beard.

 

“Okay, we’ve been here a while,” Kyle says quickly, trying to rapidly think of an excuse as to why they hadn’t all returned to the stage with the three who had continued to work.

 

“Oh, please, explain,” Dan asks his husband, with an inquisitive look, waiting to see exactly how drunk Kyle was going to come up with something that would sound good enough to Dan to justify his actions.

 

“Well…ya see,” he starts, and Dan shifts in his seat so one of his knees is proper up on the sofa in order to make himself more comfortably. “We saw Laura…and then when we got to the stage to come back on, you were doing so well on your own that we thought why ruin perfection? And so, I said to Will, I said _‘Will, why ruin perfection?’_ and Will said…Will said…”

 

“Will said, ‘ _that’s true Kyle_ ,’” Charlie pipes up to try and help Kyle. “He said _‘we’ll just make this worse!_ ’ So we all came back here to wait for you!” he finishes with a flourish, and he looks at his own fiancée who is almost mirroring Dan’s look on the other side of the table.

 

“And Will is where exactly?” Dan asks of his bass player and friend who was suspiciously missing from the group.

 

“Will had to go,” Charlie pipes up again, obviously a lot more chatty after a number of glasses of alcohol and cocktails. “He got real sleepy,” he finishes.

 

“I’m sure he did,” Dan says and looks at Woody and Coop who were trying desperately not to laugh at the story, whilst pouring their own drinks.

 

“Baby, don’t be angry,” Kyle says and pushes his lower lip out on a pout, widening his eyes and moving closer to the singer on the sofa, finally straddling his legs to get as close as he can.

 

Dan continues to keep his arms crossed and looking disappointedly at the younger man. Kyle eventually leans forward and kisses him lightly on his pursed mouth, but when he gets no response, he grabs the back of Dan’s necks and crushes them together, working the singer’s lips open with his own tongue before he feels Dan’s mouth relent to the attack and respond in kind.

 

“Hey, hey, hey!” comes a call from across the table. “Leave the porn to the professionals!” Woody cries loudly, causing the pair to pull apart quickly but breathlessly.

 

“Fine,” Dan finally acquiesces. “But I’m not drinking this half arsed shit. I want proper champagne. I got _fucking married_ this morning!” he cries, and immediately a number of arms fly out to flag down a passing waitress and put in an order.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If this feels a bit like filler, that's probably because it is....Sorry!
> 
> Please let me know what you think...surprisingly does make me write faster. 
> 
> <33


	18. Interlude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Friday guys!

Interlude

**_“The Boyfriend Of My Love-Child’s Father Tried To Kill Me!”_ **

_Finding out she was pregnant should have been the most joyous day of her life, but when Laura Palmer, 19, from Southend, held that positive test in her hand, all she could think of was how many problems she was going to encounter._

_“I met Kyle at a meet and greet a few months ago, and I’d always been a big fan! So when I went to the charity gig in Manchester later that week and they were playing, I was so shocked to see he remembered me. I was so flattered and we just clicked straight away and one thing then led to another…”_

_The brunette, who looks a lot younger than her age, had been in contact over social networking for a few months prior to this and so she assumed after that night that everything would be different._

_“He had told me on direct messaging that he found me attractive and had sent me a few pictures too,” she continues and giggles at the memory._

_Kyle Simmons, 29, is known as the keyboard player for London based indie band Bastille, and has been in the news recently after a string of accusations surrounding himself and underage girls. He also hit the headlines earlier in the summer after spectacularly ‘coming out’ and announcing that he was in a relationship with lead singer Dan Smith. Controversially, this has also been the subject of rumours that it all for publicity for the band and the men are in fact straight._

_As soon as Laura found out she was pregnant she let the musician know, but the excitement she had been feeling was not shared._

_“Even though he had been sending me text messages saying how much he loved me and missed me, I was never allowed to be around him alone. He told me that Dan didn’t want anything to come in the way of their media relationship, and that their engagement still had to be seen as real,” Laura explains, almost confirming the aforementioned rumours. “But Dan would go out nearly every night to meet girls and leave Kyle alone and then he would text me and ring me and we would talk about everything and how our life together would be.”_

_She pulls out her mobile phone and shows the hundreds of texts on it from Kyle starting from just after their charity performance in Manchester. All of them seem very romantic and like it was coming from a man very much in love._

_“So, I tried to organise a time to meet up, and when we did Dan was there. He refused to leave and so I had to tell Kyle the amazing news whilst having him glare at me from across the table.”_

_Laura looks down and a single tear starts to escape the corner of her eye as she remembers the distressing experience._

_“When I told him I saw how excited he was, but immediately Dan got angry and started shouting about how I was a whore and that I was lying. I got a message later that night from Kyle apologising for him and that he was really excited but it would have to be very secret.”_

_Laura seemed happy with this until she went out to visit them on their most recent excursion of America. She had planned on surprising Kyle during their performance on MTV, but there is now footage of Kyle grabbing her angrily._

_“He didn’t want to do that, but Dan was really angry when he saw me and when Kyle looked at him he knew he had to do something,” Laura explains. “If you watch some of the footage back you can see it,” she continues._

_She sighs deeply and crosses her slim legs._

_“It all came to a head when I went to see the in Las Vegas. Even after everything Dan has put me through I still love their music, and I still want to see Kyle every chance I can get. But it was such a surprise when Dan seemed to make a beeline straight for me when he came into the crowd,” she says, the pain in her face apparent as she tries to recount exactly what had happened only a few days ago. “I watched him walk directly up to me, and all of a sudden, when there was a swell in the crowd he punches me directly in the stomach and knocks me to the ground.”_

_She weeps openly at the admission, dabbing at her wet and beautiful face with a tissue that she takes when offered._

_“That’s the last thing that I remember, but I have watched some film from afterwards, and you can see Dan and Kyle clearly arguing on stage, and then Kyle storms off to see me. I can only assume it was Dan trying to stop him from checking up on me.”_

_Thankfully, no damage has been done to her or the baby, and she proudly shows off her first sonogram image of the small blob, and smiles widely when she sees it herself. And when asked whether she is going to tell the police about what happened, she shakes her head forcefully._

_“No! Because I know that so many people love the band and the music means so much to other people. I just want people to know that Kyle isn’t the bad guy here, but that Dan needs some help. I just hope he manages to get it and that Kyle manages to come back to me,” she concludes wistfully, still looking at the sonogram image._

_Written by Kate Joseph, Journalist_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ....she's baaaack
> 
> Hope you guys are alright! Let me know as always...need to know if people are still with me 
> 
> <33


	19. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello you lot! Happy Friday! Yes it's been a while but I get there in the end...
> 
> Just to celebrate the special day of the big man Paul Cooper himself. 
> 
> Please enjoy <33

Chapter Eighteen

The next week passes quickly for everyone. The majority of the group return to London without any further surprises or problems the day after the wedding and concert, but the newlyweds book into one of the casinos on the strip and decide to honeymoon in Vegas for the week.

 

Kyle had rung home to make sure that his sister was fine with looking after their flat and the cats for a few more days, but still neither of them had told their respective families about what had actually happened and the reasons for them staying a bit longer in the states.

 

Lucian had managed to take some time out of his busy schedule to meet up with the couple also and they had fun during the day gambling and experiencing the high life, while at night they made sweet love to each other and just enjoyed the scents, tastes and feelings of the other’s body without any interruptions or dramas taking over.

 

They hadn’t seen Laura since she had collapsed. Kyle had popped into the first aid tent to

see her as requested by Dan, but he hadn’t stayed around long. He hadn’t waited for her to wake up, but had made sure that she was all right before going and getting himself plastered in order to forget the encounter.

 

It was finally their last morning before having to check out and fly home, and Kyle and Dan are both lounging around in their super king size bed, naked and just enjoying their last few hours of blissful ignorance from the world around them. Dan hadn’t looked at anything in 6 days online and had ignored nearly every call and email that had come through for him. Admittedly, he had spent their first day together looking at his phone every half an hour, but after Kyle threatened to drop it from the top floor of Caesar’s Palace into the pool below he soon decided that paying attention to his new husband was much more important than dealing with work.

 

The singer’s attention is brought back to the present as Kyle shifts slightly under him in his dozing state. Dan lifts his wrist close to his face so he can make the time out on the small digital screen and sees they have about an hour before they officially have to leave. He glances back up to Kyle’s face and smiles dreamily at the innocent, peaceful look on his husband’s face which is always there when he is sleeping. He is amazed at how much younger it makes him look despite the thick facial hair covering half of his face.

 

Sighing deeply, he unfolds his arms and strokes down the younger man’s sides, and he revels in the slight shiver he feels as he does it. He grins at the annoyed sound coming from his husband as he starts to poke him lightly in the side to wake him up a little more forcefully. Neither of them had packed and the suite was a mess of clothes, shoes and souvenirs they had picked up while the had been there.

 

“Nooooo,” Kyle moans, frustrated at the unwanted attention being lavished on him by Dan. He thrashes wildly, Dan sliding off of him as he does it and turns to lie on his front, jamming the pillow over his head.

 

The sheet falls haphazardly down his back with the movement and Dan licks his lips at the site of the tanned, smooth skin running beneath the linen. He ignores the noises from the man as he moves to straddle Kyle’s back and then leans forward with his elbows on the bed either side of the taller man’s face, and starts to kiss and lick down the back of his neck.

 

“Ky,” he whispers softly, the breath of the word ghosting over Kyle’s ear and he shudders at the feeling. “Time to get up babes,” he adds, before starting to kiss all the way down the line of the younger man’s spine, reaching the sheet, and then removing it and kissing, biting and sucking the two perfect globes of Kyle’s backside.

 

“You better not be starting anything you can’t finish there Mr. Simmons,” Kyle jokes to the singer as he looks over his shoulder, he annoyance now all but disappeared by his husband’s actions as he grinds his hips into the mattress.

 

“Sorry, Mr Smith,” Dan replies with a cheeky grin, “Not enough time to do anything,” and he places one last closed mouth kiss to the base of Kyle’s spine and pushes himself off of the bed, lightly smacking Kyle’s arse as he does.

 

“I’m not gonna be a Smith you know,” Kyle says, turning back over on the bed and leaning forward so that his elbows are resting on his knees while he watches Dan pull on some boxers before sniffing at his shirts to find a relatively clean one.

 

“Yeah? Well I’m not a Simmons,” Dan says over his shoulder, looking at a white t-shirt with some sort of fan art on the front of it. He shrugs and throws it over his head, before spraying himself with his deodorant.

 

“Wow, well that was sexy,” Kyle intones as they continue on with their week long argument about names now that they were married.

 

Dan scowls at him as he finds a pair of jeans and pulls them on before pulling on his beat up Vans. He looks down and realises two things – one that the jeans were unusually covering his shoes and two, they were boot cut.

 

“Yeah, those aren’t your jeans, man,” Kyle drawls as he crawls out of bed, hooking Dan round the neck and kissing him on the top of the head before finding something of his own that was relatively clean and pulling it on himself.

 

“No, I see that,” Dan says, clearly confused as he pulls his black bomber jacket on and rolls the sleeves up to his elbows. “I can’t be fucked changing them, Kyle,” he says, placing his glasses on his face and shoving a hand through his unruly hair before topping off the outfit with his cap.

 

“Do I have a choice?” Kyle asks him, and Dan grins widely at him, sticking the tip of his tongue between his teeth, his stubble accentuating his dimples. Kyle admires the man looking at him, and he realises that, no, when it came to Dan there was no choice. He would always get what he wanted from Kyle.

 

\---

After quickly packing – or more generally bunching their belongings and thrusting them haphazardly into their bags – and checking out of the grand hotel they had called home for the past week, they soon found themselves sitting on a small wooden bistro set under a completely unnecessary parasol in a faux French café in the complex of the Paris casino.

 

Lucian had already been there when they found him and was sipping at some tiny coffee cup and had an outrageously elaborate pastry in front of him.

 

“You know you’ve been eating those all week, how the hell are you not like a hundred stone?” Dan asks his friend as he sits down and breaks a corner of the pastry off of the plate and puts it in his mouth.

 

“You’re actually asking him that, Mr I’ll eat anything as long as its covered in hot sauce and most likely chicken,” Kyle says to him. Dan looks at him pityingly. “That sounded better in my head,” Kyle says at the look and collapses in the chair.

 

Chuckling, Dan also sits down in the chair and when the waitress comes over and the boys both order their own food and drink before looking at Lucian expectantly.

 

“So, I need you,” Lucian announces, swallowing his mouthful of coffee and then pulling his plate towards him.

 

Kyle and Dan both look at him at the proclamation, not too sure how to take it from their good friend. The other man pays close attention to his food, his legs crossed and him really trying everything to avoid eye contact.

 

“Mate, I told you that was a one-time offer, and I’m a married man now…” Kyle tries to relieve the tension from the situation, and gets an eye roll from the American in response.

 

“Funny. Look, I’m heading over your way with someone, and she’s decided that she doesn’t want a backing track and she wants to sing live and have live music,” the producer pauses as the waitress returns and places the ordered food in drinks on the table, giving a sly, flirtatious smile to Dan as she does so.

 

Kyle notices and scrapes his chair protectively closer to his husband and places and hand on his thigh so the woman could see. She rolls her eyes as Kyle throws her a dirty look, and Dan just looks at him fondly, a small smile playing on his lips, shaking his head.

 

“And you need us…why?” Dan asks him, tipping three packets of sugar into his disappointingly small coffee and stirring it in quickly.

 

“Well, more like Kyle actually…and Woody?” Lucian says quickly and gets a raised eyebrow in return. “Well it’s all synths and modulations and dance music dude, and well that’s his…area,” he finishes quickly with a flourish of hands towards Kyle.

 

Dan takes a sip of his coffee and looks at his friend with a look of mock disappointment on his face. It showed how long it had been since Lucian had spent any time with them over a long stretch that he didn’t automatically notice that Dan was playing with him.

 

“Well, I don’t know mate, really…Kyle has a contract, and I don’t know if he would be able to break that, even if it was for a really good friend,” Dan says, literally stroking at his chin and looking at Lucian to see his face fall, clearly disappointed and upset.

 

“Fuck off Dan,” Kyle exclaims quickly. “Luc, I’ll do it, just let me know when and I’ll fit it in,” he tells the clearly relieved man over the table. “What’s wrong with you?” he turns and looks at his husband who just grins back at him again, before taking a large bite of his croissant and chewing obnoxiously

 

\---

“Can we stop flying the same airlines places? I’m so sick of watching the same movies over and over and BA’s suck ass,” Kyle grumbles as he walks out of the baggage reclaim at Gatwick airport 10 hours after taking off from Las Vegas.

 

Dan glances at the taller man and he can see that the travel has taken its toll on him. While the singer had managed to do his trademark ‘sleep anywhere and through anything’ move, Kyle hadn’t been able to get any rest at all, and just looking at his face showed that. `The normal spark in his deep brown eyes was obviously missing and he had large black rings rimming his eyes. He had pulled a hoody on at some point during the flight to combat the increased cold caused by the air conditioning on the plane and he had pulled the collar of that over his mouth and chin to try and get more comfortable.

 

Dan slides his arm around the man’s waist and pulls him into his side, resting his head on his shoulder in order to offer some comfort. Kyle stops pushing the trolley full of the bags and pulls Dan into a more traditional hug, and squeezes him as tightly as he can. Dan slides his arms under the sweater and up Kyle’s bare sides to try and warm him up a bit.

 

“You tired bubs?” Dan murmurs softly into his shoulder and he can feel Kyle nodding into his hair. “Well, let’s go and fine my mum and dad and we can go and sleep in the car yeah?” and Kyle grunts in the affirmative and reluctantly pulls away from his lover before starting to push the trolley again.

 

They see Dan’s father as soon as they round the corner into International Arrivals, and Dan was able to see even from that distance that his dad wasn’t happy about something. Immediately he fears that someone has already told him about the wedding. He knew that his mum would be disappointed that they had done it without telling her or letting her be involved, and that was the main reason for seeing them before heading back into the city to get back to everyday life.

 

“Fuck,” he curses and Kyle clearly hears him and shifts his tired eyes over to the older man, concerned. “Dad looks pissed,” he explains and Kyle wearily searches the crowd for the distinctive South African he was only slightly scared off after everything that had happened.

 

“You think they know?” Kyle asks, knowing exactly what Dan was afraid of. They were now at a point where they didn’t even have to discuss things to know what the other was thinking.

 

“Must do. That bitch Margaret must have told them,” Dan can feel the flush of annoyance flare up within him at the thought of that woman as they finally approach the patriarch of the Smith family.

 

“Right, boys let's go, quickly now,” Mr Smith chivvies them along quickly without saying another word and they walk silently but speedily towards the car park where the old car was parked.

 

Nothing is said while they manage to pack up the vehicle and all get inside. Dan can’t help but wondering where his mother and sister are, and he turns to the side in the passenger side seat and looks at his dad. Before he is even able to open up his mouth to say anything, something lands heavily in his lap and he recognises the cover of the magazine as the bright pink gossip trash his sister reads on a regular basis.

 

Confused, he picks it up and look at his dad, his brow furrowed and concerned.

 

“Dad?”

 

“Don’t Daniel. I want you to read it and I want you to tell me whether it’s true. Page 14.” Is all his father says and studiously looks out of the window at the surrounding cars. Kyle notices from the back seat that he has not once looked at Dan in the face or eyes since their arrival.

 

Dan flicks through the shiny pages quickly until he finds the page he was told to read. He has to read the headline twice before it finally sinks in and immediately he drops the magazine.

 

_“The boyfriend of my love-child’s father tried to kill me!”_

 


	20. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello...I am so sorry for the late update : (
> 
> Got a bit carried away with 'Perils' and totally forgot...I know i'm a bad writer :o
> 
> Please be warned there may be a bit of upset at the end of the chapter. Please don't hate me...
> 
> <33

Chapter Nineteen

Kyle blearily blinks his eyes open and takes in his surroundings carefully as the previous evening comes back to him. He scans over the muted colours of the unfamiliar spare room that they had crashed in and picks his phone up from the side table where he had put it to charge to check the time. Seeing that it was time for them to get up and get back to their own house and familiar surroundings, he rolls his head on the pillow to look at his husband.

 

Dan was sleeping turned away from him, but he was still able to see a scowl on his face. He had clearly not relaxed after the previous evening, and all Kyle wanted to do was smooth away the annoyance that was still present. He slides his hand over the singer’s bare stomach and enjoys the slight shiver he gets as a response.

 

Biting onto his lower to avoid a noise escaping from him, Kyle tucks himself in behind the older man and runs his hand up the soft white expanse of skin, pausing to lightly ghost the slightly darker nipples into stiff peaks. Dan – still sleeping – arches his back into the touch, and Kyle takes the opportunity to pull him closer to him. He presses feather light kisses to the back of Dan’s neck and under his ear, lightly sucking at his ear lobe as well.

 

He hears Dan’s breath hitch as he fully comes too and realises what is happening. He doesn’t move though, and holds himself as still as he can as Kyle’s hand then runs back down and picks softly at the waist band of his boxers. He can fell the tenting of the fabric as Dan’s morning wood quickly becomes full and heavy – just waiting for his lover’s touch. Kyle dips his hand under and wraps his fist around the silk like flesh he loves so much, and he hears the small gasp and hitched breath it draws.

 

Kyle squeezes the erection and quickly jerks Dan up and down; precome already streaming from the tip of the other man’s cock at the anticipation and pleasure he was feeling. Kyle gathers as much as he can to make his movements smoother and more comfortable and twists his hand over the crown of his husband’s dick as he reaches the top and then smoothly moves his hand down again.

 

Dan’s hips start fucking into Kyle’s hand and his arse starts to press tauntingly against Kyle’s own neglected erection. Kyle can feel the heated globes rub seductively against him, and he can’t stop himself from grinding into it, trying to keep pace with Dan’s insistent fucking. Both of the men were insistent now. It wasn’t anything slow and loving – both of them now just wanting to ease the tension they were carrying and try and clear their heads from frustration. Kyle moves his hand to push at the soft skin behind Dan’s balls and then roughly tug at his balls, before rolling them in his hands and returning to his main attraction. He feels in the movement Dan’s orgasm starting to race through him – his breath changing ever so slightly and his movements becoming more staccato and clumsier than before.

 

There is very little noise from the singer as hot stripes of fluid cover Kyle’s hand and Kyle continues to stroke his man through the feelings, making sure he milks every drop out of him, not stopping until Dan stills in his arm. He knows he’s made a mess of his own boxers – his own pleasure spilling out of him at almost the exact time as Dan’s. Both men sigh deeply, enjoying the aftermath of endorphins running through them, and Dan manages to reach down for his dirty shirt and clean Kyle’s hand for him before turning in his arms to face him and kiss him on the tip of his nose.

 

“Morning,” he says with a small smile, and Kyle can see that at least his plan has worked slightly. The frown lines are still etched in his forehead from the stress of the previous night, but he seems a bit more relaxed.

 

“Morning, gorgeous,” he manages in return, trying to ignore the discomfort he was feeling in his own underwear.

 

“I don’t want to get up,” Dan pouts and Kyle reaches forward to bite at his lower lip, but Dan manages to lean away before he is able to get a hold of it.

 

“Well, I kinda want to go home, so can we?” Kyle asks him, a pleading smile at his lips. He really did like Dan’s family, but he just wanted to be back amongst his belongings and relaxing in his own environment.

 

“Please,” Dan replies and they both chuckle at their combined feelings.

 

\---

Mr Smith had understood Dan’s explanation to an extent about Laure – he couldn’t understand why some girl would act like this to his son if it wasn’t true, but he was a straight forward man who had never had to deal with any crazed fans before. Mrs Smith however was a lot easier to read.

 

The men ate a quick breakfast before getting a lift back into London from the woman, but Dan could tell that his mother was still angry with his father for bringing the article up in the way he had.

 

“I told him, Daniel, I said that it wasn’t like you!” she rants as she moves cereal boxes into the dining room from the kitchen with hot buttered toast on a large plate and she watches as the two boys pour out what they wanted and help themselves to the toast she offered them.

 

“Mum, seriously it’s- “

 

“No, Daniel! I know you’ve been through a lot recently, but I brought you up right. There’s no way on God’s green earth that you would hurt a pregnant girl on purpose! Who is this girl anyway? Is this the one that Ella told me about from Manchester?”

 

Kyle nods at the woman, his mouth full of toast and jam as he pours himself a cup of black coffee and washes it down.

 

“Yeah, mum. But can you sit down for a minute?” Dan answers her, but the woman continues to bust herself around them, seemingly not listening.

 

“I told your father not to mention it, it only came out yesterday you see! But did he listen?” she continues to fume, and both men were happy that neither of them were on the receiving end of her ire. Although that might soon change.

 

“Mum!” Dan shouts, standing up from his chair, and the woman stops what she is doing and turns round to look at him carefully. “Sit down! Please! There’s something we need to talk about,” Dan’s voice softens, worried about what was to happen next.

 

“You’re looking thin Daniel,” is all his mother says in response, but she does move over to her own seat at the dining room table.

 

Dan sighs and squeezes his eyes shut. He knew that he had started losing weight again – what with the stress of everything that had been going on over the past few months. Living on caffeine just to try and cope. The last time this had happened to him had been around the same time the previous year when he had realised just how deep his feelings for Kyle had become and he was trying to handle being in close proximity of him every day.

 

Kyle’s hand squeezes his thigh, and he doesn’t even have to look at him to know that he is there for him, silently waiting for him to butt in if needed for anything.

 

“Mum,” he starts again, and he squeezes his eyes shut, trying to come up with the best words to say what he was thinking. “Me and Kyle, we did something while we were away,” he starts and his mother narrows his eyes at him.

 

“Daniel Campbell Smith, don’t you tell me that you actually did what was in that magazine!” she says to him, and Dan feels his face contort into shock and surprise.

 

“No! Mum! Seriously!” he cries, and looks at his husband with hurt in his eyes. “Nothing like that! No, this is a…good thing?” he doesn’t know why he frames it as a question, but at least his mother calms down slightly.

 

“What?” she asks finally, wrapping her hands around a cup of coffee herself. Kyle flicks his eyes to it and hops he doesn’t end up with steaming hot liquid in his face.

 

“Well, me and Kyle decided we would get married in America. Mum, we’re married,” he says quickly and holds both his and Kyle’s hands out to her so she can see the rings they had carefully chosen.

 

There is silence for long time. To the singer and his husband, it felt like a millennia had passed, when they knew in their own heads it was only a minute or so. Finally, the woman opens her mouth and starts to speak.

 

“What?” she says and her voice comes out very small and very quiet, almost as if she didn’t want to ask it. “You got married? Without me?” she asks, and Dan watches in fear as his mother’s eyes fill with tears and start spilling out of the sides of her eyes.

 

“Mum? Oh my god,” he says quickly and looks at Kyle for help in how to deal with his mother who was now crying unabashedly over the table from him. Kyle just jerks his head towards the woman with a knowing look, and Dan gets the message as he jumps out of his chair and rushes around the table to get to his mother’s side.

 

He wraps an arm around her shoulders and puts his other hand around her head and pulls her close to his chest, stroking her hair and making soothing sounds to try and get her to calm down. He felt like a total failure and useless. He never wanted to make his mother upset and cry, and he was currently wishing he was anywhere but there.

 

“Mum, please don’t cry! Seriously, I didn’t do it to spite you, but we felt it was for the best. We’ve had so much go wrong this year when we’ve tried to do anything, and we thought it would save you a lot of time and money as well if we just did it and got it out of the way,” Dan tries anything to sooth his mum and calm her down, but nothing seemed to be working.

 

“You’re my only son! And now I’m never going to see you get married!” she cries again, and a fresh wave of tears spill from the woman as if a dam had burst open.

 

Dan looks pleadingly over at Kyle, and slightly shrugs his shoulders. He has no idea what to do now, and the woman is not going to calm down. He watches as Kyle smirks at him slightly and pulls himself out of his own chair to move round to the couple.

 

“Hazel,” Kyle says gently. He never used the woman’s first name, but now he felt like it was the right time to try and get her to calm down. He kneels next to them and puts his own hand on the woman’s back and starts to rub small circles in it. The woman pulls away from her son and looks at Kyle as she hears her name. Small sobs escape her as the tears continue to flow.

 

“We never had a reception, just the vows. Then we had to go and do a show and…well then Laura ruined that,” Kyle explains to the woman, her large blue eyes just gazing at him, glazed and watery, but the tears were starting to dry up. “So why don’t you organise us a party, so that we can announce it to everyone, huh?” he asks the woman and he can see a slight sparkle return to her face.

 

“A party? Like a wedding reception?” she clarifies with a sniff, and Kyle just smiles at her kindly and nods his head, looking up at Dan.

 

“Yeah. Do whatever you want, and wherever you want, me and Dan don’t mind do we babes?” he asks and they both look up at Dan. The singer looks back at Kyle with a look of relief on his face and he feels the overwhelming rush of love and affection to his husband.

 

“Totally! Do what you want! Fucking biggest party ever! Bigger than the royal wedding!” he exclaims, just happy that his mother wasn’t crying anymore. He ends up with a slap on his chest though when he swears and he lets out a relieved chuckle.

 

“Alright, I can do that,” Mrs Smith accepts with a smile and she moves to get up. “I need to go and find that pile of magazines, and I suppose we’ll have to do it soon…” she starts to ramble quickly. “Oh and I can go and look at outfits while I’m in town! Come on you two, we need to get going,” she calls from the hallway, and the two men immediately jump up to get their belongings together.

 

\---

An hour and a half later the two men are left standing on the kerb outside the front of their building, suitcases at their feet and waving to a much happier South African as she drives away.

 

“Fuck!” exclaims Dan as they watch her drive around the corner. “Screw Will being nice to old ladies, you’re the mother in law whisperer!” he looks at Kyle, completely shocked, but grabs out and pulls him in a bone crushing embrace to try and convey his thanks to his husband for helping with his mother.

 

“Nah! No worries, baby,” he shakes off the compliment and picks up the bags as they walk towards the front door. “God I just want to see my boys, throw junk in the bedroom and watch fucking awful reality T.V. You up for it?” he asks as he throws a bag over his back to open the door.

 

“That sounds fucking awful, let’s do it,” Dan agrees with a smile, and they trudge up the stairs to the front door.

 

Kyle digs out the keys from his pocket and unlocks the door carefully, pushing the door open to avoid running felines. He gets no response and no one appears so he shrugs and manages to get everything – including his husband – inside without incident. A black and white fluff ball and a ginger and white menace walk slowly and bleary eyes around the corner, and Kyle almost lets out a piercing scream that only dogs and cats were able to hear when he sees them. He rushes over and picks them up one by one and hugs them tightly, ignoring their struggles and pretences of disinterest to get away from him.

 

Dan smiles to himself. He loved that his husband could give such affection to something and not expect anything in return. He huffs a laugh and walks over to the kitchen to look at the large pile of bills and post adorning it. He fills the kettle and then flicks the switch before returning with the pile of letters to the living room and settling down on the sofa.

 

He looks around at the slight mess made by the cats, and goes to find the remote to turn the television on. He is stopped in his tracks though by the site of something he hadn’t been expecting. His mouth drops open in a wide ‘o’ and immediately gasps in shock.

 

At that precise moment, Kyle walks in through the door to find him and hears the noise. He immediately flicks his eyes to where his husband was looking and drops whatever was in his hands with a bang.

 

In front of them, Kyle’s beloved cheese plant had turn brown and shrivelled and was looking sorry for itself in the corner. Bert had been ignored for the entire time they had been away, and didn’t look like he had long left.


	21. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What? Another chapter? I am literally posting this at 00:00 on Friday to make up for the fact i missed posting last week.
> 
> I love you guys for reading and commenting, please keep letting me know what you think, and enjoy!
> 
> <333

Chapter Twenty

“You killed my plant!”

 

Dan sits in the living room with his feet up on the sofa watching BBC breakfast as his husband screams down the phone to his sister in the bedroom. He scratches Ruben behind the ear as the cat lounges next to him, obviously used to the hysterics that the younger man often displayed when he was in his own environment. He sips from his travel mug of coffee as he pulls his phone out and starts to take some photos of things around him to start re-posting on his social media again.

 

“Tash, I’ve had that plant since I was eighteen! It survived me but I go away for a few weeks and you fucking kill it dead!”

 

Dan smirks and laughs quietly to himself. He knew that Kyle really liked his large plant, but at the end of the day the cats were fine and the house hadn’t been broken into. In the grand scheme of things Bert’s untimely demise was the least bad thing that could happen.

 

He clicks into his twitter and starts to scroll down through his feed, trying to get the gist of what he had missed in the past week. Finally deciding to check and see if any damage had been done from the article he starts to search through and lurk around the fans.

 

_“Can’t believe @bastilledan actually did that to a woman let alone a pregnant one! He’s clearly a possessive ass, Kyle deserves better”_

_“@bastilledan get over yourself. You’re a second rate indie song writer with a crap voice. Let the man go and start a family”_

_“Always knew @kyle_jsimmons was the best thing in that shit band. Hotter, more talented and the best singer. Let’s hope he breaks free from that maniac”_

“Yeah Dan, why are you holding @kyle_jsimmons back? Clingy bastard”

 

_“@bastilledan would be nowhere without Kyle, no wonder he begged him to join the band”_

_“@kyle_jsimmons is too nice to say no clearly. That or hes being blackmailed”_

Dan sighs and throws his phone into his lap. He notices a number of the tags that he reads are fans that have been following him for a while, but when he has looked in on them in the past they have been firmly entrenched on Kyle’s side. Whether talking about his looks or retweeting everything he posts, they were definitely Kyle’s fans. What doesn’t help though is how many of the comments automatically repeat everything Dan has ever thought about himself and his music.

 

He has never thought of himself as a good songwriter. He wrote one of their biggest songs about a television show and their biggest hit was literally about a volcano. Nothing he has written will change the world. Nothing he has produced will cure cancer or end world hunger. And everything that had happened to them this year…maybe it was all meant to. Maybe it was the world telling him he had had too much of something he didn’t deserve.

 

Picking up the handset again, he opens it with his thumb print and it automatically opens onto the place in the feed he had left it. One tweet does catch his eye, but it is like a raindrop in the ocean.

 

_“where has this girl come from? If her and @kyle_jsimmons are so close why has he never been pictured with her and why doesn’t he follow her on here? I mean he still follows his ex, why wouldn’t he follow her?”_

Dan looks at the one supporting voice in a sea of dissent and clicks onto his page. The only thing he sees is that his number of followers has greatly reduced from one million to seven hundred thousand. It didn’t seem like a lot, but he felt every single one of them like a stab in the heart.

 

He throws his phone behind him as he hears his husband walk through the door to see him, clearly having hung up from his sister and now dressed for the day. Dan couldn’t let him see how much this was affecting him. It wasn’t Kyle’s fault, and with him being the unpredictable one out of the pair, he didn’t need him to go off half-cocked and making it worse.

 

He looks over at the taller man and can’t help but smile. The man was dressed all on black; black tight jeans – ones that Dan knew made his arse look spectacular, a black t-shirt covered with a matt black shirt buttoned half way up and then wearing black Nike Air Jordan high tops on his feet. He was clearly taking this mourning of his plant seriously.

 

“Are you being serious?” Dan asks him, clearly amused, and Kyle glares at him, offended.

 

“I loved that plant Daniel. Bert was my only friend when I had no friends,” Dan scoffs loudly at the admission. “What? I wasn’t always this awesome specimen of a man you see before you, you know,” he says and he picks his keys off of the bunker and shoves them in his pocket, before looking for his wallet.

 

“Where you going?” Dan asks, curious as to what the man is up to.

 

“Doctor’s check-up, good fun thing to do first thing the morning you throw your best friend and longest possession into the rubbish for the garbage men.”

 

“I fucking hope I never break something from that junk cupboard you have,” Dan mutters.

 

“Instant divorce,” Kyle shouts over his shoulder as he walks to the front door. “Be home soon, love you babes,” he calls and the fronts door shuts behind him.

 

Dan shakes his head fondly as he turns back to the television to listen to Bill Turnbull discuss some fluff piece with a school kid who had done something inspiring, and just like that his mood changes and he has reminded about how he has done nothing but write catchy songs.

 

The familiar ring tone goes off behind him, shocking Lexie who was sniffing around the handset before settling down on top of it like he usually did. Noticing it was Jools’ icon on the screen he quickly swipes to answer it.

 

“Hi, how you doing?” he answers the woman, hoping his mind would be distracted by something else.

 

_“Hey, you back?”_

 

“Yep, got back yesterday. It’s been an…illuminating day and a bit,” Dan tells her, and he hears her suck in a deep breath on the other end of the phone. “Jools, what don’t I know?” Dan asks her, suspiciously.

 

“Well…” and she stalls for a moment, obviously trying to pluck up the courage to tell him something.

 

“Jools, tell me one thing. Have you signed over another of our songs without telling me?”

 

_“No!”_ she gasps, almost screaming the reply. _“No, Dan, definitely not!”_

 

“Well then, tell me what it is then. I’ve already read the article.”

 

_“Well yeah, that was part of it to be honest. It was Kate who wrote it by the way, did you see that?”_

 

“No, I hadn’t seen that bit. I was more focused on how she thinks I was trying to kill her, but that’s an interesting extra piece of fucking information,” he tells her acidly.

 

“So, I noticed we lost a lot of followers on Twitter, and I’ve seen some of the comments,” Dan makes a noise of agreement, but lets the woman continue to speak. “I spoke to the record company, and while they were alright with you managing everything yourself before, they’ve decided it might be better to call someone in to help out a bit with your image.”

 

Dan takes a deep breath in and opens his mouth to start trying to hold his position and interest, but Jools cuts him off quickly.

 

_“I tried to explain and get them to change their minds, Dan, but they weren’t having any of it. We’ve got a guy coming to meet you this week and discuss everything. And they want you to get a new song out as quick as so we can start doing promotional stuff again.”_

 

“Oh, just write new music, just like that huh?” Dan rolls his eyes, knowing that no one else was going to see it.

 

_“Apparently. I rang Mark, he’s coming to see you at the studio in an hour.”_

 

\---

Kyle walks steadily through the sliding doors of his GP surgery and up to the screen mounted on the wall. He taps the monitor to check in automatically – hitting his date of birth and then selecting his name – before taking a seat in the large waiting room.

 

It was relatively full of people from the area, visiting for what he can only assume were either routine appointments or for minor ailments of some sort. He selects a dark blue plastic seat in the corner of the large light blue room and settles down for his normal 20-minute wait time. It didn’t matter how on time he ever was for his doctor’s appointments; he was always waiting for exactly twenty minutes after his actual appointment time before he is called into the consultation room. But hey, it was free so he can hardly complain too much.

 

He picks up the magazine that had been left on the seat next to him and flicks through it absentmindedly, not really paying attention to anything that was in it. His eye is caught by an older man in his mid-sixties a few spaces away. The man is eyeing him suspiciously and Kyle feels almost inspected as he sees the gentleman run his eyes up and down him before stopping on his hands, where he had carefully painted his nails black to match his outfit for the day.

 

He stares back at the man, and assesses the other’s loose blue jeans, tan loafers and wax hunting jacket. Kyle was certain he could come up with some sarcastic remark, but he really didn’t want to make any more trouble and he really needed to get this review appointment over and done with so he can move on with his life. It was his last one before he could be officially discharged and he was hoping it would all go without a hitch. The man rolls his eyes as Kyle looks at him intently and gives him a snide look in return before returning to his copy of People’s Friend and ignoring him.

 

Kyle chuckles to himself. He really didn’t care what people thought about how he looked. He was comfortable and upset and he would wear what he wanted. Looking back down at the publication in his lap he quickly sees a photo of his husband in stage and his attention is suddenly caught as he reads the caption.

 

It is part of the magazine that gives titbits of information about celebrities and who has had a good and bad week, and unfortunately according to this magazine:

 

_“It’s a bad week for Dan Smith from Bastille! Articles and evidence coming forward linking him to trying to hurt his boyfriend’s ex are doing the rounds and scores of followers are fleeing him on social media!”_

“For fucks sake,” Kyle growls and throws the offending magazine back onto the chair next to him, earning him and even more disapproving look from the older man nearby and a huff of annoyance.

 

“What? You never seen a guy pissed off before?” Kyle suddenly explodes at him, before crossing his legs and arms and studiously starts examining the floor from his seat.

 

_“Kyle Simmons, room two please.”_

A polite male voice comes from a tinny speaker on the ceiling, and Kyle exhales in relief as he quickly gets up and escapes the waiting area without a backwards glance at any of the other patients.

 

Walking quickly down the long corridor of the surgery, he makes his way towards the correct room number. For some reason, that he has never fully understood, the lower numbered rooms were at the back of the building, with the higher number rooms at the front. It was also one of the bigger GP practices in the area with a grand total of fourteen consultation room. It takes him nearly three minutes to get to the room, almost taking the wrong turn at least twice having never had to walk this far into the place.

 

He finally comes across a large wood stained door proclaiming ‘Consultation Room 2’ on a plaque at the centre of the door.

 

He knocks on the door and a muffled “come in,” comes from behind it and Kyle pulls the handle to open the door and get into the room.

 

He is met with a modest sized room, a large window adorning one side and looking out onto a nicely manicured garden and grounds that the surgery stood in. A large pine desk is situated in the corner of the room adorned with papers, models and medical paraphernalia. Behind the door a young man – looking as scared as he possibly could – was sitting with a notebook and pen on his lap. Large glasses were perched on his face, acne adorning his forehead and mousey blond hair on his head. He was wearing an ill-fitting white shirt and tie with grey suit trousers. He looked terrified and Kyle was intrigued.

 

He smiles kindly at the kid and runs his eyes back to the desk where his GP for the day has sat down and swung his chair round to face him. Kyle stares at him, shocked by the person in front of him. To his credit, he recovers as quickly as he can and he raises an eyebrow back at the man in front of him.

 

The handsome dark haired man crosses his legs in his seat uncomfortably. His green eyes look worried as he takes in Kyle’s appearance. A frown line creases into his flawless face and he chews at his bottom lip.

 

“Now, surely this is highly inappropriate?”


	22. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, sorry for the delay again...busy weekend!
> 
> Just a small update for you guys. Wanted to make it a bit longer, but thought it deserved to finish here. 
> 
> Please enjoy 
> 
> <33

Chapter Twenty One

 

“Andrew,” Kyle intones, staring at the doctor as he sits at his desk, arms and legs crossed and waiting for the musician to sit down.

 

“Mr Simmons, please have a seat,” the other man’s Scottish lilt still present after all his time living south of the border.

 

“Seriously, this has to breach at least fifteen different parts of your professional conduct or something,” Kyle continues, but does as he is asked and sits on the uncomfortable plastic chair positioned next to the desk.

 

Andy blushes slightly, and Kyle notices with a smirk that the doctor’s eyes flick over to the young man in the corner of the room.

 

“Kyle, this is Martin and he’s a medical student who is shadowing me today,” Andy tries to act as professional as possible with Kyle’s eyes studiously watching every movement he is making. “Is it alright for him to sit in on this consultation?” He talks precisely, but Kyle can detect a slight tremor underneath his projected confidence and this fact made him feel extremely smug.

 

“Please, continue, do,” he replies with another smirk and looks directly at the student. “You’ll get an education in this appointment man,” he adds with a wink at the man, who shoots him back a look of disgust at the blatant flirting.  He waves his hand back at Andy, and notices the visible relaxation in the doctor as he realises he was over his first hurdle.

 

“So, Kyle, you’re here for your last check up after your accident, is that right?” he asks politely, and Kyle nods his head and then rests his head in his hand as he puts his elbow on the desk and looks enquiringly at the other man.

 

“Why are you here doc? London is a long way from Manchester…” the younger man trails off, leaving the rest of his question unanswered, but the meaning behind it obvious – _‘and awfully close to Dan’._

 

Andy ignores the question and turns back to his computer screen – his eyes flicking quickly over previous notes that had been typed into Kyle’s file.

 

“So, we’re just going to check out Kyle’s memory, look at his wrist and then he doesn’t have to come back for any more check-ups,” Andy tells Martin, sitting in the corner and taking quick notes on the consultation.

 

Kyle huffs a laugh at the blatant ignorance, but lets it slide until he can see another opening to annoy the man again. “So Kyle, how have you been doing?”

 

“Peachy, doc,” comes the reply with a sarcastic smile. “Having a great time and living the dream.”

 

“So you’ve returned to work then?”

 

“Been keeping tabs on me Doctor McKinnon?” Kyle sasses quickly. “Or was there another reason to keep up to date with my career?” and Andy blushes immediately. Kyle slides his eyes over to the student in the corner, still taking notes, but a very confused look adorning his face. “Don’t worry mate, Me and Andy here have a bit of a history. Oh, and I’m gonna have to have a quick look at those notes before I disappear, no hard feelings alright?”

 

“Any problems with headaches, lapses in memory, problems concentrating?” Andy asks, continuing to ignore the commentary from his annoyed patient.

 

“Nope,” Kyle says with a pop. “I remember _everything_ from after I woke up,” the emphasis in all the right places to make the doctor flinch.

 

“What about before you woke up?” Andy asks curiously, and gets a confused look from the musician. “I mean, do you remember everything that led up to the accident?” he clarifies and Kyle rolls his eyes as he repeats for what felt like the thousandth time that no, he can’t remember that bit.

 

Kyle doesn’t know if he was seeing things, but he swears he sees relief in the green eyes when he admits this, but he lets it slide as the next barrage of questions start about his arm and his other injuries – all receiving one word, non-committal answers.

 

“Well Martin is now going to ask you some questions to test your memory and concentration,” the GP starts to rattle off the reasons behind them and Kyle huffs in annoyance and folds his arms as he stares at the doctor and student.

 

“Hang on mate,” he interrupts the young man as he starts to open his mouth to start the familiar questions. “I can save you a fuck load of time here seriously. It’s 2017; May is Prime Minister; my date of birth is the fifth of February eighty eight; I’ll choose three words – cat, car and dog; world spelled backwards is d, l, r, o, w; fifty pence plus twenty five pence is seventy five pence and if I gave the guy a pound I would get twenty five pence change; 100, 93, 86, 79, 72, 65 and those three words were cat, car and dog,” Kyle rattles all of the questions in one breath and smiles at the student as he gets a dumbstruck look in response and then goes back to glare at Andy again.

 

There’s a cold silence for a few moments and Andy suddenly remembers what he is meant to be doing and types quickly onto the screen something that Kyle can’t quite decipher. Kyle watches as he scrolls through a couple more pages and then the doctor takes a deep breath and looks directly into Kyle’s brown eyes for the first time since the start of the appointment.

 

“Well everything looks good, but there is one thing I have to follow up on here,” he says, clearly choosing his words carefully. Kyle can feel his eyes narrowing at the words and raises an eyebrow at him. “There is a note here from your hospital specialist saying that there was a concern raised by your family that Dan was controlling you.”

 

The mention of his husband’s name from this particular man sparks an immediate anger with Kyle and his stare hardens as he glares at the man again, and he can see in the reaction of the man in front of him that the anger is clearly showing on his face.

 

“Look, Kyle, I’m not trying to say anything about your relationship with your boyfriend – “

 

“Husband.”

 

Another beat of silence as Andy takes in that new piece of information, but he recovers quickly. “Husband, sorry. Congratulations,” he adds, swallowing loudly, a wistful look crossing his face. “But I have to make sure that you are not in any danger,” he finishes.

 

Kyle laughs hysterically at the statement. The mere notion that Daniel Campbell Smith could be a danger to anyone was actually insane and he says as much to the men looking at him. “Dan can’t kill spiders, mate. He can’t say no to his sixteen-year-old sister and he let you suck him off purely because he is that nice a guy,” a gasp and cough from the student interrupts, and both of the men look over at him. “You alright over there kid?” Kyle asks him and receives a quick nod in response. “If anyone was controlling here, it would be me, but we aren’t like that. So you can write in that little file that my family are nutters and need to get their own heads examined, yeah?”

 

Kyle stands up quickly from his seat, and makes sure he hasn’t dropped anything out of his pockets as he straightens up his shirt. “I assume we’re done here, yeah?” he asks the man and Andy nods forlornly.

 

“Kyle, off the record,” Andy pipes up as Kyle’s hand reaches for the chrome handle of the door to let himself out. He turns quickly and gestures for the man to continue. “It’s not true all of this crap in the news is it?”

 

Kyle shakes his head, disbelievingly and looks disappointed in the man in front of him. “Mate, if you knew Dan at all you wouldn’t have to ask that question. And no, it’s not mine,” he adds before Andy is able to ask. Andy chews on his lip and contemplates the answer for a moment before he nods in acceptance.

 

“Then look after him please?” Andy asks, genuinely and Kyle is taken aback at the request.

 

“Always,” comes the simple reply, and then he is gone, without another backwards glance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please, comments, criticisms, theories...I love to hear them all and it fuels my writing!
> 
> Thanks for reading
> 
> <33


	23. Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty Two

The next couple of days pass uneventfully for everyone. Kyle kept to himself that he had seen Andy, but the memory that he was nearby was still at the forefront of his mind, and he was going to make sure he kept an eye out for the doctor.

 

Lucian had finally emailed to say that he was on his way over the following week with his new performer, so he had sent all of the sheet music over for Kyle, and it was now up to him to go and approach Woody to see if he was fine with performing alongside them.

 

Before Kyle had even managed to turn the alarm off with a groan, Dan had already rolled over into his husband’s space, and was straddling the younger man’s hips and grinding his morning erection down onto Kyle’s.

 

“You’re surprisingly awake for this time in the morning,” Kyle gasps between moans as Dan simulates riding him and biting at his neck between soft kisses.

 

“Woke up and all I could think of was you,” Dan growls lowly, working his mouth back up to Kyle’s ear, licking at the ear lobe and drawing another groan out of the man beneath him. He bites at the soft skin right behind his ear, and suddenly Kyle has flipped them so that Dan is now beneath him, but with his legs wrapped around his waist.

 

The singer looks up into the chocolate brown eyes staring down at him, lust blown and glinting with promise, and he smirks at Kyle as he reaches up to kiss hungrily at the man’s lips, his tongue demanding entry and then pulling Kyle’s own back into his mouth and sucking on it until Kyle pulls back enough to stare at him again.

 

“God, you’re so beautiful,” Kyle murmurs as he looks adown at the dark hair and blue eyes he got to call his own. But then he frowns as his snooze alarm goes off again and the moment is broken.

 

He pulls away from his best friend and rolls off of the bed, looking down at his crotch as he realises how hard Dan had manged to get him in just eight minutes of kissing and clothes grinding.

 

“You’re gonna be the death of me Smith,” he jokes with a smile.

 

“Just get back to bed,” Dan whines petulantly and then pouts at him and furrows his brow. Kyle laughs at the grown man now doing a perfect impression of his own baby niece.

 

“Need to see Wood, you know this,” Kyle says slowly, but with a smile. “And you need to get up, surely you’ve got something to do today?”

 

“No! I want to be lazy today. Come back and be lazy with me!” and Dan tries another face, hoping for sultry and alluring. Kyle bursts out laughing.

 

“Don’t know what you were going for there man, but hell you now look constipated.”

 

“Fine,” Dan huffs. “Go off and have a fun day with your friend,” he adds and crosses his arms as he watches Kyle throw on yesterday’s jeans and one of Dan’s white fan shirts.

 

“Baby, he was your friend first,” Kyle says, looking in his wardrobe at his shoes to decide which ones he was going to wear that day.

 

“Shut up,” Dan snaps. “Don’t try and win this argument with logic,” he pouts again, and Kyle just looks at him and shakes his head.

 

“How anyone could say you’re controlling is actually beyond me,” he says and walks over to drop a kiss on his temple before heading out to the bathroom to finish getting ready.

 

Kyle left Dan that morning with a soft kiss, as he had lain in bed and a wink promising much more for him later that night. Dan laughed at the knowing wink he received as he lay back in the cotton sheets of their shared bed and picked his phone up to check his messages.

 

He sees he has a What’s App message from Mark, and he actually remembers finally that he had to meet his producer friend today to talk over what songs they could work on next for the record company. Mark clearly hadn’t forgotten, as the message soon indicates.

 

_Mark – Daniel, get out of bed, get dressed and get your arse down to Starbucks. Screw the studio, let’s just chat_

 

Dan scoffs at the message and notices the time on the message was only five minutes earlier. Mark clearly knew him too well. He checks through his other messages, seeing one from Jools, and he fires one back with the address of his and Mark’s favourite coffee house. It was out of the way, and for London surprisingly quiet, so he knew that they wouldn’t be annoyed by anyone.

 

Sighing loudly, realising that his morning plans for when he had woken up were now completely ruined, he rolls out of his side of the bed and walks quickly to the shower to get ready.

 

\---

As luck would have it, Jools and Dan arrive at the same time from different directions and Dan smiles at his assistant as she walks up to him.

 

“Morning, boss man,” she greets him and they share a friendly hug before Dan holds the heavy glass door open for her and she walks in in front of him.

 

This particular coffee shop was one that Mark and Dan had discovered when they had been randomly wondering around the city a few years earlier. They called it Starbucks, but in fact it was a mid-sized independent café in one of the cobbled side streets in the main central business district. The nick name was code for when they talked in front of anyone else and wanted to be alone, but it had stuck.

 

Dan watches as Jools looks around at the exposed brick walls mixed with industrial metal. This place had done this before it was even a style, but it also mixed in reclaimed wood and timber for chairs and tables, and the bar was heavy pieces of driftwood.

 

“This place is amazing,” Jools says to no one in particular.

 

Dan smiles at the announcement and looks around the space for his friend. He looks at their normal table in the corner and there he sees his old friend sitting there with two coffees sitting in front of him. Grabbing lightly at Jools’ light tan coat, he pulls slightly and she realises they have to walk.

 

“It’s been too fucking long, man,” Mark says loudly and pulls Dan into a hard hug as he gets close. As they pull apart he pulls the singer’s hat off of his head and throws it on the table in front of him. “Coffee,” he adds and gestures at the oversized foamy cup on the table.

 

“Don’t, I know, there’s been too much crap going on,” Dan says to him and rolls his eyes.

 

“I’ve had most of it from the guys. Coop’s been super chatty recently,” Mark tells him and Dan laughs at that.

 

“I’ll go and get Jools a drink, Jools this is Mark, Mark this is Jools,” Dan introduces quickly and lets them shake hands before he orders the woman’s normal drink from the bar.

 

As he stands and waits for the barista to make the beverage, he looks back over to the corner table. There were a number of other tables in the place filled with businessmen having impromptu meetings, or talking on mobile phone, and the three of them were the least professional looking in the establishment. He noticed a number of odd looks and disapproving stares as Mark had loudly greeted him, but he didn’t want to let that get to him.

 

His friend is talking to Jools, but from his body language he can clearly see that he is not impressed with having to see them. He and Mark had had in depth conversations over the phone about what Jools had done with their song, and Dan could tell from this distance that the producer had clearly not forgiven the woman. Mark was sitting opposite her with both his arms and legs crossed, his tattooed arms flexing as he was tensing and relaxing whilst trying to make polite small talk with Jools.

 

“For Dan?” the young woman behind the bar pipes up and Dan smiles at her shyly as he puts a finger in the air to say it was him and takes the drink back to the table. Putting the hot drink down in front of the woman, he unzips his jacket and hangs it on the back of his chair before sitting down and relaxing in the comfortable wooden chair before crossing his legs widely and pulling the sleeves of his long sleeve black t-shirt up to his elbows.

 

Jools smiles in thanks and he goes to stir his coffee before taking a sip. “So, Jools, you’ve been talking to the high ups, what are they saying?” he says to her and raises his eyebrows so they’re visible above the thick frames of his glasses.

 

“Yeah, so they want a song, like, ASAP,” she says, hiding behind her cup so that she doesn’t have to see the disbelief on either man’s face.

 

“Oh right, cos they just grow on trees,” Mark says frustratedly, echoing Dan’s words from earlier in the week.

 

“I now, I’m really sorry, but they were really insistent. And they don’t want it off the album,” she adds as if it was something that had crossed either man’s mind.

 

“No, I got that. They would have just told us which one if they did,” Dan mutters mirthlessly, and Mark claps him on his shoulder.

 

The singer takes another sip from his coffee and then as he swallows takes his glasses off and rubs his hand over his stubble and mouth, thinking deeply.

 

“This is all your fault you know?” Mark looks at Jools as he speaks and Jools flushes pink with embarrassment.

 

“No, Mark it would have happened one way or another. My life has been worse than EastEnders for the past year now,” he chuckles as he drinks again. “Alright, what if we release something we already have recorded?”

 

“What like a re-release?” Jools asks, intrigued, but clearly not thinking it was a good idea.

 

“No he means something we had put together for Wild World and then decided against,” Mark interrupts quickly and he looks at Dan out of the corner of his eye. “Could work, what were you thinking?”

 

Dan drains his cup and just quirks his eyebrow as he stands up to walk out, just knowing the other two would be scrambling to keep up.

 

\---

Standing in St Catherine’s Dock, Kyle rubs his hands together to keep himself warm. The water and surrounding boats were making the already cold day even worse, and there was a bitter sting to the wind when it blew around him, whistling as if it knew something that he didn’t.

 

He had rung Dan to let him know that his parents wanted to meet for a meal that night, so here he was, huddled under the patio heater at the more salubrious restaurant next to the chain French restaurant he was meeting his family at. He only had his denim jacket on to keep him warm as he had been inside with Woody in Brighton all day. Surprisingly it had been warmer by the sea itself.

 

Suddenly he sees a familiar lanky shadow run towards him in the distance. He notices it trip over something, but catch himself in time as he gets closer. Kyle shakes his head as his husband slows down and power walks up to him, clearly out of breath.

 

“I’m…sorry…” he breathes deeply, and ends up bending forward, putting his hands on his knees as he tries to catch his breath.

 

“Considering the amount of jumping and singing you have to do on a nightly basis, you are so unfit babes,” Kyle jokes and starts rubbing Dan’s back in soothing circles.

 

Dan takes a few more deep breaths and stands upright again, and he looks up at his husband. “You ready for this?” he asks him and Kyle just shrugs at him.

 

“Knew it had to happen sooner or later…just would have preferred later,” he tells him with a smile.

 

“Why do they want to meet anyway?” Dan asks, as Kyle puts his arm around his shoulder and he leans into the taller man’s body heat. He runs his own arm around Kyle’s waist and tucks his hand in the man’s jeans pocket.

 

“Fuck knows, didn’t say,” the younger man replies, but they walk the short distance to Café Rouge and pull open the door to get inside into the warmth promised within.

 

Being taller than average, Kyle manages to spot his family easily, and when they are asked if they needed a table, the taller man charges forward and leaves Dan to apologise and explain they were meeting people as he passes.

 

Sitting at the long wooden table already was the rest of the Simmons family – including Laura, much to Kyle and Dan’s disgust.

 

“Seriously? You brought this little – “

 

“Kyle!” Dan shouts quickly from behind him, making sure he interrupted before anyone around them could hear what he was going to say.

 

Kyle spins round to look at Dan, and just gets a glare and a curt shake of the head from his husband, and Kyle manages to calm down just as quickly.

 

“Laura, mother, father,” he says politely and settles down in one of the empty seats at the table that happened to be next to Claire.

 

“Uncle Ky!” she shouts happily and throws her arms out wide to get a cuddle from her favourite uncle.

 

“Hi Dan,” Tasha says as she stands up and kisses the singer on the check before he can sit down next to his husband. Dan smiles in return, but still feels incredibly uncomfortable with the entire situation – especially as Laura was glaring at him from the end of the table.

 

The waiter brings two more menus for the newcomers to look at, but before he even opens them Kyle sets it down in front of him and looks directly at his mother with his older brother next to her.

 

“So why are we here?” he asks bluntly, clearly not wanting to bother with small talk.

 

Silence fills the air as the people on the opposite side of the table seem to choose the words that should be used.

 

“Well, if none of you have anything to say, I suppose I should lead with my news,” Kyle pipes up loudly, and places his and Dan’s clasped hands on top of the table in front of them so everyone was able to see.

 

Dan had grabbed hold of Kyle’s when they had sat down to try and give him some support. If Dan had felt uncomfortable it was nothing on what he knew Kyle was going through.

 

“Me and Dan are married,” Kyle announces loudly and stares at his mother as he says it. Dan looks at the woman and can see a flare of anger fly through her eyes.

 

“What?” Adam says, not quite shouting, but louder than was socially acceptable in that environment.

 

“You heard me,” Kyle says to him, finally shifting his gaze. “So, I know you told me not to bring him, but we’re one in the same now so whatever you wanted to say to me you can say to him too,” he adds, and takes pleasure in the shocked looks adorning his mother, father, brother and sister in law’s faces.

 

As Dan’s eyes slide to the end of the table, all he notices is the evil glare levelled at him from the young brunette.

 

 

 

 

 


	24. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone.
> 
> I'm really sorry I went a bit MIA. A lot of stuff has been happening recently but I'm sure you don't want to hear about that. 
> 
> Anyway, this is a bit of a filler chapter I admit, and story line will continue in due course. Please enjoy!
> 
> Thank you so much, because I haven't said it in so long. I love all the love, Kudos, comments and subscriptions. I love all criticism and if I've done something you don't like please let me know!!
> 
> <3

Chapter Twenty Three

The silence across the table continues on for the longest time. Dan spent the time engrossed in the menu, trying to ignore the boring stare coming from the pregnant girl and her supporters on the other side of the table, and almost sighed with relief when the waiter came and took all of their orders.

 

“And a white Russian too please,” Dan asked, desperately wanting something caffeine based, alcoholic and full of sugar and calories to keep him ready for whatever onslaught was due to come to him next.

 

“Oh, sounds like a lush,” Lorraine was heard muttering to Adam on the other side of the table, and Dan’s eyes fly up to meet hers through his glasses. He nervously pulls his hat off of his head and runs his hand through his hair before throwing it back on haphazardly and scratching the back of his neck.

 

Kyle glared at his sister in law at the comment and strokes Dan’s thigh to try and soothe him. The silence and awkwardness is suddenly interrupted by the sound of Ariana Grande’s ‘Break Free’ coming from Kyle’s pocket. The taller man seems oblivious to it and the looks he’s getting from the surrounding tables, but Dan puts his arm around the back of the chair and strokes the back of his neck softly until his attention is back on the present and he tilts his head to get Kyle to realise his jeans are singing to the room at large.

 

“Ah fuck,” he curses loudly, earning more tuts and annoyed looks from other patrons. He fishes his phone out and looks at the screen, and Dan can see from where he was sitting the smiling face of Lucian’s profile photo looking back at him.

 

“Go, he’ll only keep ringing,” Dan tells him with a quick shake of his head as Kyle looks at him apologetically.

 

Kyle glares at his parents, brother and the two other woman across from him as he stands and heads to a quiet hallway that Dan can see also houses the toilets. He bends forward and pecks a soft kiss on what he can reach of the singer’s cheek, causing Dan to smile softly at the action and watch him walk away.

 

Turning back to the table at large, he keeps his eyes down and looks intently at the white napkin that was sitting silently underneath his cutlery. He tries to study it with as much interest as he would a new melody, but he knows that something is going to have to break soon. Much to his relief, it wasn’t the people opposite him that started the conversation.

 

“So, come on Dan, spill it! I want all the details, where was it, what happened, do you have photos? I’m so happy to have another brother now!” Tasha gushes loudly, not letting anyone get any other words in edgeways.

 

“Mummy, Uncle Ky is married now?” Claire pipes up, and Dan can’t help but smile fondly at the child as she looks at her mother with confusion.

 

“Yes, baby!” Tasha says, but from the corner of his eye and can see the rolling of his new mother in law’s eye as Tasha confirms it and Claire’s eyes go very wide.

 

“It’s not her is it?” Claire whispers loudly, and looking at Laura out of the corner of her eye, as if she was a wolf planning on eating her.

 

Dan brings his hand to his mouth and tries to hide a laugh escaping from him by biting his lips together. Tasha puts her arm around her young daughter and looks guiltily across at the brunette who was carefully drinking from her own glass, pretending not to have heard the exchange.

 

“No, baby,” Tasha says softly. “Uncle Ky has married Dan there,” she tells her and gestures over to the man. The child’s freckled and innocent face bursts into a huge grin as she looks over at Dan again.

 

“So Dan is now Uncle Dan?” she says loudly and smiles again, putting her arms out and grabbing at the singer. Dan finally relents and moves onto Kyle’s vacant seat and lets the child climb into his lap, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly.

 

Laura makes a small whimper and excuses herself quickly from the table without anyone really noticing.

 

\---

“Yeah Luc, Woody is fine with it. We spent most of today going over everything anyway.”

 

Kyle was pacing back and forward in the long corridor leading down to both the staff area and the diner’s bathrooms. It was long and winding, causing the spell of a small intimate restaurant at the front to be broken. It was still the same French vanilla cream colour as the rest of the place, with dark wooden floorboards. As he walked the floor creaked strangely under his trainers. A few patrons were walking past and giving him strange looks as they passed to use the facilities.

 

_“Awesome! Thanks so much man, honestly. Monica will be so happy, really,”_ Lucian exclaims down the phone to him.

 

“Monica?” Kyle rubs his face with his hand, his fatigue finally hitting him for the day.

 

_“Yeah. You’ll love her, she’s amazing. Anyway, we’ll be over in about a week, be ready for us!”_ Lucian says goodbye and Kyle hears silence finally on the other end of the phone.

 

Sighing, Kyle leans against the cream wall and puts the corner of his phone to his mouth and taps it against his lips. He shuts his eyes, trying to dredge up the courage to go back and face his family.

 

Suddenly he feels softness rubbing down his arms from his shoulders and warm breath ghosting against his ear, and he smiles at the feeling.

 

“Couldn’t handle it any more than me, huh babes?” he jokes after standing there happily for a moment, keeping his eyes closed as he revels in the soothing feeling of hands running up and down his arms and then holding him close.

 

“I was sick of the little bastard staring at you like that,” comes the familiar and completely unexpected _female_ voice in his ear.

 

Kyle stills – freezes as if he was suddenly paused in real life. He starts to take in all of the feelings he had been getting and realises that the hands were just _too small_ to be Dan’s. The chin on his shoulder _didn’t fit_ in the right way, and the arms holding him just didn’t feel like home.

 

He breaks out of the hold as quickly as he can and spins to look at the young pregnant brunette. Standing now and not hidden by the table he could see that she was starting to show, the tight and revealing clothes she was insisting on wearing was doing nothing to hide the fact.

 

“Fuck sake Laura, get the fuck away from me!” Kyle hisses at her, but instead of her moving away, she moves closer to him with a sly smile on her face.

 

“But, Kyle, baby, don’t you want to see the picture I have of our baby?” she asks, fluttering her eyelashes at him.

 

“No I fucking don’t! It’s not my child! I’m married Laura for fucks sake! Leave me and Dan alone!”

 

“But baby! I know he’s the one keeping us apart – “

 

“Laura! I hate to say this, but I really think you need to go and see someone…you are seriously delusional! I don’t love you, I don’t know you! I kissed you once because you told me you were my girlfriend when I had amnesia! _Leave me alone_!”

 

Kyle finally pushes past her, trying to be as gentle as possible and walks quickly to the table. As he gets there he overhears the end of the conversation that had clearly blown up since he left.

 

“…so I’ve told Laura that you need to go and get a DNA test as soon as the baby is born, so expect a call from ITV, we’re going onto Jeremy Kyle,” Kyle hears Adam say scornfully to Dan.

 

Kyle stands and clears his throat from behind his husband and everyone looks up at him, Dan looking clearly more angry than anything else. His face then shifts to guilty as he sees Kyle.

 

“Babes, we’re off,” Kyle says and narrows his eyes at his brother as Dan gets up and downs the last of his drink. “Tash, if you have time come and see us before you go home,” Kyle says to his sister, but he continues to have a staring contest with his brother.

 

“Uhm, actually, why don’t we come with you?” Tasha looks at her husband and gathers her belongings and children and stands up as well.

 

“Anything you want to say Dan before we go?” Kyle asks his other half before he says what he has to say.

 

“Uhm, yeah actually. Screw you all for trying to destroy my career. Fuck you and your ‘Jeremy Kyle’ and your little bitch can go and jump off a cliff for all I care,” Dan fumes finally. Kyle gapes at him, realising that he had cracked finally, but he can’t deny anything that he had said.

 

“Wow, alright, well. That’s more eloquent than anything I could have thought up,” Kyle says with a nod and smiles proudly at his man. “Oh, and if your invite to the party we have for the marriage happens to ‘get lost’ I don’t think I’ll be too upset,” he uses the air quotes while saying it and he threads his fingers with Dan’s and pulls him out of the building, being followed quickly by his sister and her family.

 

\---

Getting separate black cabs back to the flat, the family finally climb up the stairs to Kyle and Dan’s flat, and collapse as Dan busies himself getting changed into joggers and a sweatshirt before getting every one coffee and finding the take away menus.

 

Logan and Claire busy themselves with the television after Kyle finds some strange children’s cartoon with evil looking puppets that sang. Kyle and Dan swapped looks with each other that suggested they would either both be having nightmares that night, or Dan would be singing the songs for the next week straight, but it kept them quiet and away from chasing the cats around the apartment so it seemed to be a win-win situation.

 

When everyone had relaxed a bit, they all settled in for a long talk. Kyle had settled himself in a single chair and Dan sat cross legged on the floor at his feet, Kyle playing absentmindedly with the too long hair on the top of his head.

 

“Need a haircut baby,” he says to him as he twirls the strands, making small curls appear and laughing to himself.

 

“Yeah, that’s tomorrows job before going to meet this ‘manager’,” Dan tells him, relaxing his head back agains his knee and closing his eyes.

 

“This is all disgustingly domestic,” Tasha observes with a laugh, and Martin elbows her in the side. “What? He’s my baby brother! I’ve never seen him this happy!” she exclaims and Kyle laughs at her.

 

“Aw yeah, crazy stalker girl claiming she’s having my baby, my husband is going mental trying to keep his career alive and being blasted in the press! It’s a dream come true sis, it really is,” Kyle looks at her with a quirked eyebrow and she shrugs, letting him win that point.

 

“Well you at least have some wedding photos?” Martin asks finally, and Kyle laughs at the blatant change of subject. He gets his phone out and throws it over to Tasha to show her the photos.

 

After a number of stern words apart the state of their clothes, she finally got all the details of the ceremony.

 

“Can I not lose my invitation?” she asks, her voice suddenly small and quiet. Dan has long fallen asleep on Kyle’s knee, ignoring everything that was going on.

 

“Aw, Tashie, seriously? You’re the only one other than Charles I want there!” Kyle tells her with a smile and soft eyes.

 

Martin rolls his eyes at the absurdity of the sibling relationship Tasha and Kyle seemed to have, and then taps her on the hand and points over at a plastic Tesco bag for life they had brought in and left in the corner.

 

“Oh! Of course!” she says loudly, so much so it knocked Dan out of his slumber and his head falls sharply to the floor and wakes him up.

 

“Ow!” he shouts and both Claire and Logan giggle at him and start chanting _‘silly Uncle Dan’_ to whatever song was playing on the big screen.

 

“Oh that name’s gonna stick,” Kyle claims gleefully as his sister comes and hands the contents of the bag to him.

 

In a plastic terracotta coloured pot, a small bark type trunk sat and looked at him soulfully. At the top was a small spring green, curled frond sitting and waiting to open. Kyle looks at it with his mouth wide open and then at his sister.

 

“Well you were so upset about your cheese plant,” she shrugs and explains to him.

 

Tears in his eyes, and looking down at Dan happily, Kyle looks carefully at the fern in his lap.

 

“I love him Tash,” he says simply.

 

“Congratulations bro,” is all she says in return.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, so some of you might be going WTF, what have you described, thats not a fern?!
> 
> So some backstory, I'm half kiwi, so obviously know my ferns : ) Have gone for a New Zealand Tree Fern which you can actually buy over here, and they are so awesome. So here's a Wikipedia link and obviously google if you fancy to know more about them.
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dicksonia_squarrosa
> 
> <3


	25. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!
> 
> This is a little shorter this week, but think I have managed to get my mojo back. 
> 
> Let me know what you think.
> 
> <33

Chapter Twenty Four

Arriving at the agreed place for their meeting with the new manager they had been assigned, Dan and Kyle get out of the cab and pay the fare as quickly as possible. The weather had turned worse over night, but the rain had actually stopped for the time they had to wait outside for everyone else to arrive for the meeting.

 

They had drawn up outside a large grey concrete building that looked very industrial and ramshackle. Dan looked through the large picture windows in the front of the building and could see the security desk with a stern looking bald security guard behind it. He stifled a giggle as he realised the man looked far more like a Mitchell brother than he thought he should, but he wraps his fur lined denim jacket around him tighter and huddles in closely to Kyle who was also jiggling up and down to try and keep warm in the drizzle.

 

Dan had actually made an effort today for the meeting, wanting to make a good impression and he had forgone his normal cap and glasses to actually style his hair and put his contacts in. Kyle – as always – managed to look effortless in anything he wore, and despite his jealousy, Dan can’t help but still feel happy and smug that Kyle had chosen him.

 

“I can hear you thinking from here,” Kyle’s familiar accent cuts through his internal monologue and Dan looks up at him, wide blue eyes locking to chocolate brown.

 

“I’m just…y’know,” Dan says and Kyle drags him close and wraps his arms around his waist, shielding him from the worst of the weather. He presses a kiss to his forehead and makes a happy noise. “What?” Dan asks him at the noise.

 

“Nothing. I’m holding the weirdest, coolest, craziest, most beautiful guy and he happens to also be my husband,” Kyle murmurs into his ear, and receives a smack on his hand in response. “Ow! What was that for?” he exclaims.

 

“Stop being a sap, be the arsehole I fell in love with,” Dan chides with a small smirk, but doesn’t move from his current position.

 

“Oh, I’m sorry! Hang on, let me change that then. I’m holding the worst actor, most pessimistic, crappiest speller and most hideous runner in the world, who just happens to be my husband. That better?” he tries again with a twinkle in his eye.

 

“Ooh, is this insult Dan day?” Woody’s voice comes from behind them, and Kyle moves them so they both turn to look at him. “’Cos I’ve got like a mega list around here somewhere,” he continues, searching his pockets as if he had lost something.

 

“I knew you two weren’t working yesterday,” Dan comments with a roll of his eyes.

 

“We were working!” Woody exclaims loudly. “For like, an hour…it got boring pretty quickly without you there waving your arms at me,” he adds with a cheeky smile. Dan looks up at Kyle who just nods with a shrug.

 

Will walks up to them silently, his normal stoic air around him, but Dan looks at him and sees a slight look of anticipation around him. But it wasn’t the guitarist that caught his attention. Will’s arm was slung around the beautiful dark haired, dark skinned woman that was his girlfriend. At the sight Dan breaks away from Kyle and smiles widely at Awuoi moving over to her and hugging her before kissing her on the cheek. Her slim model figure was wearing light blue skinny jeans with tan leather Ugg boots and a long, loose jersey in dark blue that made her look effortlessly stylish.

 

“Hey, hey, stay away from my girl!” Will protests loudly. “You got your own girl now,” he adds and smirks at Kyle.

 

“Ah, but what a beautiful girl he’s got!” Kyle retorts and winks flirtily at Will. “Hi babes, how’re you?” Kyle asks almost normally to Awuoi as it’s his turn to greet the woman.

 

“Good! Yes, good!” she says with a beautiful bright white smile and leans in closer to Will.

 

“So we’ll go in then?” Dan asks them all and they all nod one by one. “Alright, let’s go,” Dan says again, more to motivate himself into walking through the door.

 

It is Will who eventually leads the way, his hand clasped with Awuoi and holding the door open for Dan to follow next. Ever the lead singer, Dan walks up to the desk as confidently as he can and addresses the guard with barely a waiver in his voice. The only reason Kyle could hear it was because he knew him so well.

 

“Hello! We’ve got an appointment with Mercado Management? Dan Smith?” he tells the guard who eyes him suspiciously for a beat before he looks down at the list of names to see who was due in that day.

 

“Ah yeah, here ya are,” he says, a heavy east end accent apparent, making Dan try desperately not to laugh after his earlier impression of the man. “Ya on the ninth floor, take these,” he adds and hands over security passes for all of the group, which Dan then hands to everyone. Kyle gleefully takes it and puts it over his head. The lanyard of the pass bright red with the word ‘VISITOR’ printed on it in large white letters.

 

The group walk towards the lifts to get up to the ninth floor and meet the person that the label had nominated them to work with. Dan hadn’t slept all night, and Kyle looks over at him regularly to make sure he was keeping alright. He had woken up this morning to find Dan in the living room surrounded by cats and plugging away on his portable keyboard with his headphones in. Piles of crumpled papers littered the floor and Kyle could tell he had been at it for a number of hours already.

 

They all stand in the surprisingly large lift, mirrored walls making the space seem even bigger than expected. Kyle caught Dan’s gaze in the reflection and winks at him making him blush slightly as they waiting for the ascent. The speakers in the corners blasted out tinny muzak which appeared to be an extremely bland and boring instrumental version of Hazy Shade of Winter by Simon and Garfunkel. Trying to cause his husband to relax even more he starts whistling out of tune and causes Woody to smirk at his attempt.

 

“Stop hating on my awesome musical talent, Christopher,” he says with a hint of humour in his voice.

 

Woody holds up both hands in a gesture of peace and surrender, but rolls his eyes for all to see. Awuoi lightly smacks Woody on the shoulder and laughs musically at the antics of the boys. The lift lurches to a stop and Kyle watches as Dan nervously looks up at the red LCD nine that had appeared on the small screen next to the grey metal doors.

 

Kyle purposefully stays at the back of the group, wanting Dan to take the lead and not need anyone literally holding his hand as he walks out of the confined space. He smiles proudly to himself as he sees the singer’s shoulders rise and still slightly as he obviously breathes in to steady himself and then purposefully strides forward towards the desk.

 

“Mr Smith?” a tall slim woman – a twenty something, bleached blond with copper streaks, buxom and smiling through clearly botoxed lips – asks whilst carrying a large round silver tray filled with glasses and a tall carafe of still water.

 

Dan nods as he hears his name, and the girl then goes to gesture with her head for the group to follow her. The walk through the halls past a number of dark wooden doors. The royal blue carpet tiles on the floors muffling the footsteps, and no one said a word as they were hustled into a large glass fronted conference room with a gigantic oval table on the middle surrounded with leather and chrome chairs.

 

The blond places the tray down on the table and lets the group choose their places around the table. Dan sits down near the head with Will and Woody next to him. Kyle settles next to Woody with Awuoi next to him, and he carelessly relaxes in the chair and pulls out his phone to play around while they waited.

 

“Oh, here comes Mr Leith now,” the woman says and smiles at them all. Kyle looks up sharply at the name and looks at her with narrowed eyes before looking around the room again.

 

He takes in every detail. Now, he wasn’t good at taking in details, but Dan was and if he hadn’t said anything when they arrived at the building that meant Kyle had definitely not been in this room, on this floor, in this building in the past. He looks at the other men around him, but no one seems to have heard what the girl had said before she left. Dan was looking at something Will was showing him on his own phone, and Woody was engrossed in something – looking over his shoulder Kyle quickly discovers it was the next team announcement for Plymouth Argyle. He looks over his shoulder at Awuoi, but as she had never actually met the man before, he didn’t expect her to recognise why this was so significant.

 

Placing his mobile on the table in front of him, Kyle leans forward to try and catch Dan’s attention, but his husband is steadfastly listening to the older man next to him.

 

“Dan! Dan!” he hisses, but as the singer looks up and over to him, an annoyed look on his face, the glass door opens loudly, signifying the entrance of the one person Kyle really didn’t want to have to deal with in a professional capacity again.

 

Dominating the doorway, the glass opening being held open by a familiar thin blond girl next him, a large, overweight dark haired brute with his now immaculately styled goatee stood with a triumphant look on his face. His ill-fitting white and sky blue pinstriped shirt tucked into his blue suit trousers, which were almost falling down off of his pot belly.

 

Kyle shoots the man daggers as he opens his mouth to address them.

 

“Daniel! Glad to see you could all make it at short notice. Your label was really eager for me to get back involved.”

 

And Dave strides confidently towards the head of the table where the oversized leather desk chair sat and sits down with a sly smirk on his face. Next to him Charlene settled down at his left hand, opened a notebook and clicked the end of her pen.

 

“So let’s get this started shall we?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So for anyone who doesn't know it, Hazy Shade of Winter is an awesome song by Simon and Garfunkel so here's the You Tube link for it. 
> 
> https://youtu.be/bnZdlhUDEJo
> 
> And for the last chapter, for non UK peeps reading, if you don't know who he is, Jeremy Kyle is like our Jerry Springer...in a way. Here's a link for clips if you fancy seeing what it's all about.
> 
> https://youtu.be/4aqtPMehme4


	26. Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty Five

Dan bursts out laughing loudly and everyone just looks at him a little shocked. Dave, not too sure what was happening, looks at the singer with a slight touch of confusion in his face and a smirk.

 

“You’re fucking kidding me right?” is all Dan says at the looks he gets. “You’ve managed to weasel your fat arse back into my business again?” he exclaims and continues laughing until tears start streaming down his face.

 

“Dan,” Kyle says sternly at the end of the table and his husband looks at him finally, still smiling manically. “You wanna step out and calm down?”

 

“Y-yeah,” Dan sobs out, his shoulders still shaking with silent laughter, but he manages to stand himself and get out of the room.

 

Not one sound is made until the door has shut completely.

 

“Right then, Dave, what the fuck is going on here?” Kyle turns on the man, anger clear in his eyes and his face. The manager sits at the head of the table, his fingers arched in front of his lips and he just calmly looks back at him.

 

“Watch your tone and language in front of my employees, Simmons,” Dave warns. “I’ve been asked to help you’re ailing career here, and this is his last chance with the record company. Too much stuff has happened this year and now the fans are fleeing in their thousands, they can’t take much more,” he tells them all, and everyone in the room apart from Kyle looks taken aback with the talk of the fans abandoning them.

 

“So what? The label just came to you and offered you your old job did they? No questions about why we stopped working with you in the first place?” Will pipes up, crossing his legs under the table and turning to face Dave full on. The normally quiet man had never had much to do with the other when they worked together before, so this came as a surprise.

 

“Oh, no they weren’t happy, that’s why we have Charlene here to help. She’s going to be your point of contact,” and the conversation stops as Dan opens the door again.

 

He appears to have calmed down, his face now just tinged with pink rather than the red it had been when he left them. Kyle can see as he passes the faint sighs of wetness around the ends of his hair where he had obviously gone and thrown water on his face. He puts his hand out as Dan passes his chair, and Dan brushes his fingers with his own as he walks by – the simple touch appearing to ground him a bit more the way Kyle hoped it would.

 

“So, how’s this going to work?” Dan asks as he sits back down and faces the older man again.

 

“As I was just saying, Charlene is your point of contact. The label doesn’t want me directly involved, but they know that I know you and the way you work and they want results quickly.”

 

“You got a plan then?” Woody asks, raising an eyebrow and looking thoroughly unimpressed.

 

“Got a few questions first,” the blond pipes up from where she’s sitting, and she starts tapping her pen against the pad she holds. Everyone turns their attention to her, and Kyle watches her eyes go wide as she realises that the people in front of her aren’t any happier with her either.

 

“Oh go on, please, let’s hear what you have to ask mate,” Kyle says sarcastically and gets a glare from Dave in return. “Sure you didn’t get enough crap from us the last time you were around,” he continues to mutter.

 

To her credit, Charlene had the decency to blush at the comment and she angles her body in a way to protect herself from any further verbal onslaught.

 

“Well, I just need to know a few details about like, your personal life and who exactly usually comes on the road with you,” her accent starting to slip from polite to a more south London twang the longer she spoke. “Not, like, the crew, but like, family and friends and stuff,” she adds. “So, Dan, who’s your partner at the moment?”

 

Dan looks at her completely confused. He furrows his forehead and looks out of the corner of his eye at Kyle as if he thought this was a trick question.

 

“Charlene, you know it’s Kyle,” Dan tells her. The girl nods slowly and makes a note in the pad.

 

“Right, but there’s no one else, like you don’t go out picking up guys or girls?”

 

“No-o-o,” he says, extending the small word. “Kyle is my husband, and we’re pretty monogamous,” he adds.

 

“Husband? Oh, that’s new,” Charlene says and then turns to Woody and Will to ask the same questions, all of which Kyle and Dan both knew she knew the answers to. “And touring members are still Charlie and Sharon?” she asks and everyone nods in agreement.

 

She takes a few more details and then walks over to the white board mounted on the wall at the other end of the table. She looks overly professional in tight black leggings, a white crew neck t-shirt and a black pinstriped blazer, but Kyle can’t help think of Claire playing dress up as he looks at her. A snort escapes him at the thought and he manages to smother it with his hand as he watches the girl move.

 

“Well, we have some TV spots lined up for you, a few interviews on radio for you Dan, and you’ve got a song ready to get released as well…OH MY GOD!” the girl shouts loudly as she flicks the paper in her hands and reads something. Dan knows immediately what the next thing out of her mouth was going to be and he schools his face into a neutral expression, when inside he wishes he had told the rest of the group first. “Grip! You’re releasing Grip?”

 

Kyle feels his forehead furrow as he hears the words and he spins in his chair to look at his husband with the revelation. At the almost choreographed movement of the three men, Dan looks down at his nails, trying to look anywhere other than the rest of the band.

 

“Are we?” Will asks, an eyebrow raised in question.

 

“Uhm, uh-huh,” Dan says, in a strange high pitched whine and then looks back at Charlene, trying to get her to move on.

 

“Right, okay, well,” she spent a lot longer than was necessary trying to get her thoughts back together and then looks at Dan directly, clearly needing to address him specifically. “The last thing we need you to do is to do a number of shows with a new band we have just literally signed,” she says, officious, and in a tone that clearly wasn’t going to brook any disagreement.

 

“Wait, what?” Woody suddenly finds his voice and gets up to stand behind the girl to see her notes, his cap falling off of his head as he moves quickly.

 

“Wood, sit down,” Will says to him, and then he moves his gaze to the man who was still sitting at the head of the table with a smirk on his face. “You gonna elaborate on this for us or what?”

 

“Well, Daniel does owe me a favour,” Dave says and leans forward so his elbows are leaning on the table in front of him. Dan glares back at the man. He had honestly forgotten that he had agreed on that as part of the Pompeii debacle.

 

“Would have been nice of you to have asked first though,” Dan shrugs and scrunches up his nose as he says it, really hating that this man had him over a barrel for this one.

 

“Well why do you think you’re here Dan?” Dave replies quickly.

 

“So you want them to do support for us, I take it,” Dan sighs loudly and shifts in his seat, scrubbing his hand down his face. “What kind of shit do they sing?”

 

“Oh, Dan, no, Dan,” Dave says pityingly and shaking his head, relaxing back to get more comfortable. “We want _you_ to be support for them,” he adds, a smug smile on his face.

 

Dan falls silent, and he curls his lips inward, biting down on them and looking wide eyed back at the man who now held his career in his hand again. He laughs once disbelievingly and sighs again. He nods in submission.

 

“Dan, mate, what?” Woody asks, clearly upset.

 

“Nothing we can do Woody,” Dan says, throwing his hands in the air. He feels a hand on his shoulder squeezing him comfortingly and he looks up expecting to see Kyle, but instead he just sees Will’s soft eyes looking back at him.

 

“Right, so what do you want us to do?”

 

Dave smiles evilly back at them, and Dan realises that he’s now stuck between a rock and a hard place.

 

\---

The end of the day came and Dan and Kyle finally fell through the door after their experience of a day.

 

“I need a fucking drink,” Dan had announced suddenly and pulls Kyle towards the closest pub he can see as he walked out of the management building.

 

They crossed the busy London street, avoiding buses and black cabs expertly and head in to a traditional looking building, large windows with individual panes of glass separated with wooden beading and painted in deep bottle green.

 

Despite the late time of year, there were colourful flowers in window boxes and seats set up under parasols outside for the smoking patrons. Dan pushed open the loud, squeaking wooden door and fell inside, where a large wood burning stove was spilling out heat into the modest sized venue.

 

Woody had decided to follow, with Will and Awuoi having to disappear to a prior engagement, but Dan had been given a solidary pat on the back, and told not to worry by his friend. He had looked back smiling shyly, after everything that had gone on between them as well this year, Will’s support really meant a lot to him.

 

“Go and sit down, you want food?” Kyle said to him, and Dan shook his head forlornly. He could feel Woody and Kyle both eyeing him suspiciously. He knew that they would now worry about him if he stopped eating again, but he couldn’t force anything down and all he wanted was alcohol.

 

Before he and Kyle had gotten together, and before Kyle had even known he was interested, Dan had cut out all food and just drunk water, coffee and booze for two months. It had been difficult for him, realising his feelings for his best friend and having to deal with the constant romantic nature of the man with his ex-girlfriend. Exhausting was not a big enough word to describe the amount of energy he had had to concentrate on keeping a smile on his face, pretending to be interested in everything that Kyle had had to say about the beautiful blond he had been seeing for years.

 

Looking back at any of the photos he had taken at that time shows exactly how much weight he had lost, but as soon as he and Kyle had gotten together, his appetite returned, his energy came back and he was back on the road to recovery. Now though, he was beginning to feel the same problems and emotions again, and he knew that the others would be able to see it too.

 

He had settled into a booth and started playing with the beer mats that were piled in the middle of the wooden table. He was halfway through one layer of a pretty amazing house of mats by the time Kyle and Woody came back with pints in their hands.

 

“I wanted vodka,” Dan said to his lover, and Kyle had just glared back at him with a disapproving look.

 

“Yeah, well I want a Ferrari, but babes there’s some stuff we have to live without,” Kyle replied sarcastically and places a pint in front of him with a pack of KP nuts. “Eat,” he added and gave the singer a disapproving look. Dan rolled his eyes, but pulled the blue packet towards him and tore into it.

 

“So, we gonna have to tell Charlie then,” Woody said finally, sitting at the edge of the booth, his arm slung over the back and sipping from his own glass.

 

“Yup,” Dan said, throwing another handful of protein into his mouth.

 

“Who’s gonna do it?” the drummer asked, clearly not wanting to have the job.

 

“Should be me,” Dan said again, his voice now monotone, but he can feel the food starting to give him a bit more energy.

 

“I’ll do it,” Kyle says, and settled a firm hand on Dan’s thigh, squeezing it slightly. “He’s my brother. I’ll tell him he can’t come on tour with us,” he sighed, and head out to the front of the pub to get some space and quiet from the droning of all the people in the pub.

 

“Can’t believe Dave says we can’t take him with us,” Woody groused. “Not enough money my arse.”

 

“Yeah,” Dan says again. He was almost certain that they could afford to take his brother in law on tour with them, but Dave had practically dictated to them that this was to be as cheap as possible to get the greatest return in fans and record sales. Being held over a barrel all of them agreed with him.

 

Now they were back at home, and Kyle pushes him down onto the couch and looks at him with a soft expression. Without saying a word, he crouches down and unties Dan’s filthy white Converse and loosens the laces enough to manage to pull them off. Dan watches him work steadily, but surely and he laces a hand into Kyle’s hair as he works, feeling the softness in the strands and the touch grounding him more.

 

As Kyle finishes, he toes his own trainers off and lays them both down by the doorway, and then makes his way back to the sofa himself. He settles in behind the older man, sitting in the corner snuggled against the arm and the back and then reaches forward to pull Dan down against him by the shoulders.

 

Kyle widens his legs, and lets Dan slide down between them, his back leaning against Kyle’s chest and he runs his hands up and down Dan’s arms to warm him up after being out in the cold.

 

“You alright baby boy?” he murmurs into Dan’s hair and kisses over where his breath grazed.

 

Dan can feel his eyes closing at the closeness he felt between them and he rolls his head back onto Kyle’s shoulder, making small snuffling noises and he nuzzles into the space between Kyle’s neck and shoulders.

 

Kyle’s arms rub Dan’s arms a couple more times before reaching down and circling around his waist and he rubs small circles into the man’s hips, rucking up the shirt slightly so he can feel his husband’s skin and the heat coming from it.  

 

“You’re so strong, Dan,” Kyle murmurs into his hair. “You’re gonna be able to do this,” he adds and gets a whine in response as his fingertips starts drawing circles lower on Dan’s body, dipping beneath the jeans.

 

Within seconds, Kyle’s hands had disappeared underneath the waistband completely, and was feeling the soft cotton of the boxers he had watched Dan put on that morning. He finds the elastic and pulls it away from his skin, palming Dan’s slowly hardening length at his ministrations.

 

“You like this baby?” he teases softly, running his hand down the crease at Dan’s groin, trying to avoid touching his cock as much as possible. He reaches his balls, and starts to massage them, drawing moans from the singer in response.

 

“ _Fuck_ …Kyle,” he manages to force out of his mouth, and Kyle smiles to himself as Dan starts to writhe in front of him, unable to hold still and trying to move his hips so that Kyle can get closer to his hardness.

 

“Relax, Dan,” is all his says, but he dips his head and starts to suck at the soft skin beneath his ear, causing more moans to escape from him.

 

Dan finally manages to grind his arse backwards into the younger man, and Kyle gasps slightly at the friction agains his own erection, something that had been present ever since he had pulled Dan towards him.

 

“ _Fuck, baby_ , see what you do to me?” he says through gritted teeth, and Dan rolls his hips backwards again, trying to show Kyle what he wanted him to do.

 

Dan is now fully hard, his dick pressing and straining against the fabric containing him, but Kyle wasn’t about to free him. He had a plan and this was all about trying to relax his husband. Realising that Dan was more than ready for him to get on with it and stop teasing him, he grabs onto the member waiting for him and strokes up with a dry palm from the coarse hair surrounding the bottom. Once he reaches the top, he can feel wetness accumulating at the tip, and he gather up as much as he can before allowing his now lubricated hand slide all the way back to the base and to the top again.

 

Dan’s moans of pleasure spurred him on, and Kyle gradually picks his pace up until he is frantically stripping at Dan’s cock as fast as his possibly can. He reaches his other hand round to the front and dips it inside, searching and successfully finding his prize and as he rubs and massages Dan’s balls at the same time as twisting and rubbing at his slit, he can hear Dan’s groans start to get faster and more breathy, and Kyle automatically knows that the singer is almost done.

 

Before Dan can come, Kyle switches hands, now stroking Dan’s cock with his other and gathering up as much pre-come as he can – not really difficult now as Dan was as wet as a fountain, being so turned on after a completely stressful day. Kyle manages to coat his index finger and then reaches further down as far as he can – something his freakishly long arms made rather easy to do. He rubs his hand over the small furled hole he finds a couple of times and before Dan even registers the pressure, pushes all the way in and immediately locates Dan’s bundle of nerves – something Kyle would never forget.

 

Suddenly, Dan is screaming out Kyle’s name and he freezes, his entire body rigid as Kyle feels his hot release covering his hand and the inside of his boxers and jeans. He milks his lover through his orgasm, slowing his hand down as the stream of come starts to lessen. Once Dan has finished and he feels his body relax, he withdraws his finger and Dan whimpers again at the loss. Kyle chuckles softly and presses a kiss to his temple.

 

“So, every stressful day from now until it’s over, I’m gonna find ways to relax you,” Kyle whispers into Dan’s ear and feels the resulting shiver as his words register and takes in what has been promised to him.

 

He can’t respond, though. Kyle has literally pulled his brain out of his cock.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, so if you want come and find me on Tumblr! I'm Basnatural on there too 
> 
> Thanks for reading
> 
> <33


	27. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!
> 
> So i've posted this tonight because i'm gonna be a bit busy for the next wee while what with ReOrchestrated.
> 
> Please enjoy!! And if you're lucky enough to be going too I hope you love it!

Chapter Twenty Six

“I don’t get how he’s so different on this,” Kyle says, tilting his head forward and gently kissing Dan’s temple.

 

Kyle was naked, lying in the middle of the bed, his husband draped over him and resting his head on his lightly haired chest. Both were exhausted, and Dan was aching in all the best ways after being woken up with one of the greatest orgasms his partner had given him for a while. Kyle hadn’t been lying when he told him for every stressful day he would help him to ‘de-stress’. It was now Monday morning and the whole weekend had been busy with meetings, recordings and late nights and lots of caffeine.

 

“Hmm?” Dan replies, completely blissed out and not really paying much attention to the bright colours on the laptop on Kyle’s lap. Kyle rolls his eyes, but continues to caress the singer’s back and shoulder where he had his arm holding him close.

 

“Your good friend?” Kyle tells him. “The guy currently surrounded by sparkles and drag queens on the screen,” he adds and points his free hand at the screen where they were watching Drag Race. “He’s always shy and quiet on this, when in real life he’s…”

 

Kyle’s voice trails off as he thinks of Lucian and compares him to the man below him. “He’s you! He’s basically American Dan!” He explodes with a smile. He sticks his tongue between his teeth and reaches down to kiss Dan hard on the mouth.

 

Rolling his eyes, Dan taps him lightly on the hip in disgust, before settling down to try and pay attention to the drag queens Kyle was making him watch. “Why are we watching this anyway?” he asks, frowning slightly as he watches the two worst of the week strut around the stage lip syncing ‘Call Me’ by Blondie.

 

“For fun,” Kyle tells him. “You know, that thing you don’t really have much of anymore.”

 

Dan starts to blush intensely, and Kyle watches as it spreads down Dan’s incredibly pale shoulders, making him look like he had been severely sunburned. Before he can say anything to comfort him, Dan’s phone starts to ring from the bedside table. Sighing loudly, the singer reluctantly rolls away from the heat of his man’s arms and reaches over to squint at the name on the screen.

 

“Talk of the devil,” he jokes and slides the answer button, putting it on speaker so he doesn’t have to worry about holding it to his ear. “Morning, Lucian,” he intones dully, not putting any expression in his voice at all.

 

“Daniel, problem! _Major problem!_ I need help!” comes the frantic American accent down the phone and Dan and Kyle both glance at each other, resisting the urge to roll their eyes.

 

“Calm the fuck down Luc, what’s up?” Dan tells him, but sits up straighter, so at least he can pretend he’s paying attention.

 

“I just landed, and man, my fucking guitarist has been refused entry,” he spews out, his words almost running fully together. Dan can tell how absolutely frantic the man is, mainly because he is rarely flustered or upset about anything.

 

“What? Why?” Kyle pipes up, clearly intrigued now there’s gossip to be had. Dan elbows him in the stomach to shut him up. “Ow! Dan! That hurt!”

 

“I don’t know, but please, I’m begging you, tell me you know a guitarist who’s free this week?”

 

Kyle smirks slightly, and starts to feel very smug. “See, I told you it would be fine,” he says with a knowing look to his husband and Dan glares back at him. “Lucian, my dear friend, I have just the man in mind,” he speaks up and they can both hear the massive sigh of relief through the phone.

 

“Really? Are you sure, because I’m currently shitting myself, and I haven’t even gone and spoken to Monica yet,” he continues to ramble quickly.

 

“Mate, it’s fine, we’ll see you this afternoon,” Kyle tells him. “Remember we can’t do Thursday though, right?” he adds in quickly, and he can almost hear the pain with which Lucian bites his lip in despair on the other end of the phone before he clearly remembered he had changed the Thursday show.

 

“Yeah, yeah, cool, okay, let’s get out of here. See you later!”

 

“Bye babes,” Kyle calls out and Dan grunts a goodbye too before he hangs up.

 

“Who have you just wangled into this thing now?”

 

“Pfft,” Kyle says to him and reaches his long arm behind him to his own phone, knocking Lexie off of the table in the process. The cat falls to the floor and gives him the most impressive bitch face. “Well you shouldn’t have been up there should you?” Kyle says to him, matter of factly and entirely unapologetic for knocking his cat off of where he was comfortable.

 

“Why does that cat love you?” Dan asks him, incredulously.

 

“Because I feed him, and he’s as big an arsehole as I am,” Kyle replies immediately, and Dan smiles at his ready responses to insults. He scrolls through his contacts and finds who he’s looking for, before hitting call.

 

“Charlo! Bro!” he says over enthusiastically as his brother answers the phone. He knows its relatively early and he can here Sharon muttering in the background.

 

“No, I don’t know why he sounds so happy either,” Kyle hears Charlie mutter back to his fiancé. “What do you want Kyle?”

 

“I’ve just got you a gig!”

 

\---

“Titch, Topshop? Really?”

 

Dan walks sedately towards Ella, who was waiting with her arms folded at the front of the flagship store. A Monday morning at the beginning of December was not the busiest of times to go shopping, but there was still a fair sized crowd milling around the popular clothing store. He sighs as he stands in front of his sister and runs his eyes up the historic stone building and imagines the horrors that will greet him inside.

 

“I need a dress! And you need a suit. And so does Kyle,” she tells him matter of factly.

 

The invitations had been sent out the previous week, and Dan’s mum had decided that she wanted the party to be sooner rather than later. Mainly, so Dan believed, so that she could have a chance to show off to all of her friends just before Christmas. His mum was nothing if not predictable.

 

So the date had been set for the fourteenth of December, and Dan had been too busy to even think about outfits.

 

“I’m not choosing for Kyle,” Dan tells her. “He does not let anyone else dress him,” he says and Ella just stares back at him with her mouth open. “Oh, trust me. I’ve been in enough photo shoots with that man to stay well away from his wardrobe,” he rolls his eyes and Ella just laughs at him.

 

“Why, what would you change?” she asks, genuinely curious.

 

“Well, he wouldn’t have half as many fucking cat shirts,” he muses, and looks up as a middle aged woman tuts and glares at him as he swears.

 

“Do you have to talk like that around children?” she stares at the singer clearly waiting for an answer and then her eyes slide judgementally to Ella. Dan just stands and looks at her with wide eyes, glancing from side to side, and hoping desperately for the floor to swallow him up. “And a man _your age_ being with such a young woman, seriously what is going on with society today?”

 

“Sorry, please forgive _my brother,_ ” Ella interrupts, and Dan blushes furiously, but is hugely grateful for his sister’s help.

 

The woman looks at them both again, raises an eyebrow clearly not believing that they were related and continues on with her day.

 

“C’mon D.C,” she says to him and grabs his arm to drag him fully through the door and into the shop.

 

“What’s wrong with my age?” Dan whines after her, but moving quickly so he doesn’t stumble.

 

“Aw, old man now huh?” Ella teases back and Dan looks back at her, feeling wounded.

 

“I’m not old,” he pouts back at her and crosses his arms as she rolls her eyes and starts to look at dresses.

 

“Daniel, I don’t think you’re old,” she says dismissively as she holds up a fitted panelled blush pink dress for him to appraise.

 

Looking at the dress and shrugging, he starts to hum the music playing over the stores speakers.

 

“What is this?” Ella asks him and he looks over at her and listens harder to the song and then as he realises it he smacks his forehead in annoyance, and rolls his eyes.

 

“Never mind,” he tells her as he realises it’s ‘The One and Only’ and he’s embarrassed that his sister doesn’t recognise it.

 

“Er, hi, Dan?” comes a timid voice from behind him and his mind is taken off of his feelings of inadequacy and mortality as he tends to a few foreign fans wanting pictures. He finishes with the selfies for the two of them, neither wanting Ella to help with the photos and eying her warily.

 

They walked away from the siblings and Dan starts to sift through the rails with Ella, trying to at least look like he was enjoying himself.

 

“You choose this and we are no longer related,” he tells her, holding out a khaki thigh length dress with a huge hole between the bust.

 

“Pfft, Dan, I’m not Laura,” she laughs at him and Dan looks at her before putting the dress back.

 

“Fuck sake, can I not do one thing without her name being mentioned?” he mutters and continues to walk the thin walkways between the dresses. “And what with all these flimsy silky things? I’m certain Gina G wore this to Eurovision,” he says and pulls out a metallic satin mini dress before almost throwing it back onto the rack in disgust.

 

“Wow, you want to calm down a bit there big bro?” Ella says in surprise and follows him as he walks towards the escalator to go upstairs. “She still hanging around then?”

 

“She wants to try getting on the Jeremy Kyle show,” he tells her with a snort, turning on the step of the escalator and then leaning against the rail waiting for the ride to finish.

 

“Seriously?” Ella asks, and snorts along with him. “What did you tell her?”

 

“That’s all we got out of her before Kyle reappeared at the table and demanded we leave,” he told her, and rubs his eyes under his glasses and then the back of his neck. “I’m just exhausted titch,” he tells her. “What with this and the Dave thing,” he said.

 

Ella knew all about what was going on with Dave, Dan having told her when she had tried to organise a trip over the weekend. She still hadn’t told her brother everything that he had done with regards to the leaked photos and she was certain that if she did then the manager would no longer be alive, or would at least be severely disfigured and the last thing she wanted was for her mild mannered, sweet big brother to be prosecuted for the sake of that man.

 

“Oh, Dan,” she croons suddenly as her gaze settles on her perfect dress.

 

Rolling his eyes, the singer moves after her and looks at the dress she was now caressing with all the care of a lover. He had to admit that it was a beautiful dress and perfect for his teenage sister to wear for the wedding party.

 

“Is it the right colour?” he asks her, not even knowing what the colour scheme for his own wedding celebration was.

 

“I don’t know and I don’t care,” she says and searches through the rack for her size before rushing off to the changing rooms with Dan following like her very own puppy dog.

 

Dan waits outside for her and looks around the shop floor at the people walking and browsing the clothes available. A few of the shop girls looked at him with a mixture of curiosity and slight familiarity, but no one approached him. The woman he had had a run in earlier walked past him again, tutting at the tops of her voice, and heading towards one of the assistants. He watches her talk sternly to her and then point towards him.

 

The girl looks at him and says something to the woman before walking nervously over to him.

 

Dan smiles politely and clasps his hands behind his back as the small, curvy, well-dressed brunette walks over to him.

 

“I’m terribly sorry sir, but there has been a complaint of you ‘hanging around’ and staring at the women and girls,” she says to him with a timid smile and a look over at the woman who was intently trying to look like she wasn’t watching every move.

 

“Ah,” Dan tells the woman, and leans in towards her like he was going to tell her a secret. “You see, I’m waiting for my sister who’s choosing a dress for the wedding reception for me and my husband,” he says and winks at her.

 

“Oh, of course sir, no worries, as long as there is a good reason for you being here that’s absolutely fine,” she says to him with a relief and scurries back to the woman. Dan chooses that moment to ignore what happens next as his sister walks out of the changing room looking at least five years older and as beautiful as he had ever seen her.

 

“Wow,” he breathes out and smiles widely at her. “Titch, you look beautiful,” he tells her and embraces her much to her surprise.

 

The sage green satin dress hugged her conservatively, but tight enough to flaunt her perfect figure. Skimming the gown, the fishtail train at the back sat elegantly and made her body look even longer. There was no extravagant detailing and it was finished to perfection.

 

“Well, we have me, let’s go and find something for you,” she says to him with a smile and runs back into the dressing room to change.

 

Dan’s face starts to hurt with the smile and for the first time since his management meeting he felt fully relaxed without the help of his husband.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey so I have some links for you today!!
> 
> Ella's Dress - http://www.topshop.com/en/tsuk/product/clothing-427/dresses-442/satin-fishtail-gown-dress-7498940?bi=80&ps=20
> 
> A few of the other contenders...  
> http://www.topshop.com/en/tsuk/product/clothing-427/dresses-442/90s-satin-mini-dress-7490091?bi=60&ps=20
> 
> http://www.topshop.com/en/tsuk/product/clothing-427/dresses-442/khaki-deconstructed-bralet-bodycon-dress-7544691?bi=40&ps=20
> 
> And finally,  
> The One and Only - https://youtu.be/RVEohM8BOQQ


	28. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello people, I am back!!
> 
> I'm sorry, ReOrchestrated and aftermath hit me hard :( and now it's all over!!
> 
> Anyway, let's get back to our regularly scheduled programming!
> 
> Please enjoy <3

Chapter Twenty Seven

While Dan was slowly losing his mind being surrounded by the fashion of Oxford Street, Kyle had managed to make his way to the Picture House on the other side of London.

 

The Edwardian style stone frontage welcomed him and he stands backwards to admire the architecture. He had been to this club so many times in his youth, especially when he had been first exploring his sexuality, and just looking at the building now just made him smile as he remembered all the things he used to get up to when he was younger.

 

Previously a rather grotty and low end dive of a gay bar, even though it was also frequented by straight couples who wanted to see how the ‘other half’ lived, the Picture House had been renovated sometime in the early 2000’s, into a stylish and lively cabaret bar. The outside still looked the same, only now it had fluorescent lights proclaiming the acts who would be playing there.

 

The large posters being put up behind the glass at the doors proclaimed the much loved ‘Monica Courtesan’ would be gracing the stage for the next week with support from ‘Charlamaine Tension’ – in much smaller writing beneath it.

 

Kyle chuckles at the posters with large five stars from small American bijou publications and Lucian’s name announced as producer. He leans against the wall as the staff work to put the posters up, and absentmindedly flexes his bad arm, aching due to the overuse over the weekend.

 

All their equipment had been delivered the previous day, but they weren’t going to be allowed in until the Americans had arrived to say they were part of the crew. Kyle smiles as he notices his friend walking up towards him.

 

“You took your sweet time,” Kyle berates good naturedly and Woody flips him off as he pulls his hood off of his head, and shoves his hands in his pockets. “You know you don’t have to go incognito around here yeah? No one gives a flying fuck who you are,” he whispers conspiratorially to him and gets a cuff around the head.

 

“I’m not that Smith man y’know,” Woody replies quickly. “I’ll take you down Simmons,” he jokes and he hooks his arm around his neck and they start to play fight against the wall.

 

Suddenly, from nowhere, the two of them get thrust directly into the stone wall with force, and the two grown men shriek in a way both would heavily deny later. Kyle manages to free himself from the burly drummer and looks up to see his own brother laughing and clambering up Woody’s back. That’s all Kyle needs to see to get right back to it the fray until a loud cough comes from behind them and Kyle jumps away from his drummer friend with Charlie still fully attached to his back.

 

“I see you hired proper professionals then Lucian,” the slimmer of the men standing watching of them snarkily announces with his arms crossed.

 

Standing next to Kyle’s producer friend was a thin tanned man, a pinched look covering his face, and his obviously long dark hair piled in a bun on his head. He moves one of his hands so that it is rubbing at his mouth and he sighs after taking a long look at the three musicians.

 

“They’ll have to do,” he says, waving his hand at them and strutting past to the doors and pulling them open with a grunt, as if the mere action of doing this himself was an effort.

 

Kyle looks at him, eyes wide and then looks over at Lucian who just shrugs his shoulders at him. The other man in the group subtly rolls his eyes at the interaction and raises an eyebrow. He was much more attractive of the two, taller, fair skinned, light blue eyes and cropped blond hair. The two of them walk to follow the first man, but Lucian stops quickly to say hello.

 

“Sorry about him,” he reaches up and pecks Kyle on the cheek quickly before offering a hand for Woody and Charlie to shake.

 

“Nah it’s fine,” Kyle tells him. “It’s just like Dan before his coffee,” he adds sarcastically with a wink causing the American to chuckle.

 

“This is Brian,” he introduces the tall man to them and even Kyle has to look up slightly at him, something that he has rarely had to do in his life.

 

“Hi guys, I’ll go and make sure the drama queen is fine,” he says and quickly follows to where the other man had disappeared.

 

As soon as he had gone, Lucian visibly sags against the wall and Kyle pats him on the shoulder in solidarity, leaning next to him. “Good flight?” he asks, offering a Polo as he throws one in his own mouth. Woody coughs and he chucks the packet over to him.

 

Lucian shoots him a glare and Kyle backs off with a small smile. “I am never travelling this far with drag queens ever again,” he laments and throws his hands against his unkempt face, the grey and brown stubble growing in now causing a more dishevelled look compared to his normal beard growth he proudly took care of.

 

“I say that every time I travel with Kyle,” Woody pipes up from further along the wall. “But somehow I still always seem to end up with him,” he adds on wistfully and gets a finger in return.

 

“Let’s go in shall we?” Charlie suddenly says, trying to stop another fight from breaking out.

 

“I don’t know if I can do this without someone spinning and singing. Which one can I get to do that?” Kyle conversationally asks his brother, looking around to see if he can find the performers as Charlie holds the door open for them and they all trudge past one by one.

 

“Don’t start anything!” Lucian calls after him.

 

“As if I would!” Kyle almost screams back.

 

\---

 

By the end of the night, Kyle had only almost been attacked three time by different members of the American cast and crew. If anyone else had asked Woody, Charlie or Lucian, they would all say that it would have been unprovoked and unnecessary, but if they had to be perfectly honest, his constant teasing of the lead act and the level of annoying hyperactive ten-year-old he had been since he had arrived at the venue that day was probably more than enough to get anyone who wasn’t used to him on edge.

 

“Kyle, you’re my brother, and I love you, but if you don’t calm down, I’m gonna knock you out,” Charlie finally tells him as the final set finishes and they all move to bow as they are thanked one by one and the they walk off the stage.

 

They don’t have to do a lot with their equipment as it is going to be there for the rest of the week, but they all disappear backstage to try and find some water. Not used to not having a green room to relax in, all three of them feel a bit lost.

 

Finally finding some large speakers that are either being used as decoration or are there as spares, Kyle hops up on top of it with his water bottle and sticks his hand up. Charlie takes it and hoists himself up while Woody decides to lean against it.

 

“Gonna be heading off soon anyway,” he tells them, taking a long drink of his plastic pint glass that he had been nursing for most of the night instead of the water that the other two had been given. Somehow he had sweet talked one of the roadies into getting him alcohol.

 

“You wanna share an Uber?” Kyle asks him, and he shakes his head no quickly.

 

“I’m good, mother in law is picking me up,” he says with a grimace and the brothers look at each other pulling a face.

 

“Hey, my mother in law likes me,” Kyle tells him with a smile.

 

“My mother in law likes me,” Charlie starts to retort, and then realising exactly who he was talking to and about who his face falls and the other two start to laugh at him. “Can I pretend she’s an orphan?” he asks them, face extremely serious.

 

“Yeah, dude, totally and orphan,” Kyle tells him rubbing comforting circles in his back.

 

“Lucian, seriously, these men are doing my head in! Did we have to have straight guys?”

 

A shrill tone comes from around the corner and can only be the one and only Monica Courtesan – or Jason to everyone not paying for a ticket.

 

“I think they’re funny,” Brian’s voice can be heard saying and Kyle looks at the other two with a proud look on his face, almost puffing his chest out.

 

The three burst around the corner to find the musicians sitting there. Lucian had the good grace to appear embarrassed, but Jason – still made up in her Monica make up but without a wig – just puts his hands on his hips and glares at them all.

 

“See! Just lounging around doing nothing,” he says loudly, gesticulating for all to see.

 

“Uhm, we were just leaving,” Charlie says and slips off of the speaker to get his stuff together.

 

“Yup, I’ll be back to bang some more tomorrow,” Woody says, finding his hat and putting it on his head. “Drums, though. Sorry ‘bout that,” he says as he passes the drag queen. Brian stifles a laugh at the comment.

 

“I like you,” Kyle says pointing at the blond haired man, and jumping off of the ledge. “See you later my gorgeous, beautiful, man,” he says to Lucian, and pulls him in by the collar of his jacket, kissing him squarely on his lips, only using a slight hint of tongue to get his point across to the queen watching.

 

He pushes Lucian away with a pop, and the producer puts his lips to his fingers, not quite believing what had happened. Kyle had fully moved away from him, and was walking off towards the fire exit that was being used as a stage door. He could see his husband waiting for him, dressed in his jeans, black sweatshirt and red cap.

 

“Stop harassing my husband, Piane!” Dan shouts loudly through the door and Kyle pokes his tongue through his teeth with a smile.

 

“I really wish people would stop judging me by what they expect to see,” Kyle huffs out as he stands next to Jason, his hands on his hips. Smiling again he almost skips to Dan and kisses his cheek before sliding his arm around his waist and holding him close. “Get me home now,” he whispers seductively into Dan’s ear, and he watches as Dan’s eyes widen and a slight blush colours his cheeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, any comments, kudos, criticisms I take on board!
> 
> Come and find me on Tumblr if you want!


	29. Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty Eight

Dan glances around the green room and takes in the number of different people surrounding him. Not performing until the end of the filming, the rest of the band had decided they would turn up later so that they didn’t have to hang around too long, but Dan having been told rather than asked to be part of the interview sofa for that night had to be there from the beginning.

 

He could feel the nerves start to kick in. Kyle had promised he would be there as soon as he possibly could, but the texts to his husband’s phone had so far gone unanswered and this made Dan even more worried. He knew that he was with Tasha and if anything had happened he would be the first to know, but it didn’t stop the constant worry he felt whenever the other man was out of his sight for any extended period of time.

 

“So, Charlene left me a whole load of notes for you to have a quick look over, Danny boy,” a thick London accent comes from next to him and Dan actually shakes his head to get himself back in the present. Looking to the side, a familiar face settles down next to him with a fake smile on her face and crosses her legs towards him. Dan feels immediately uncomfortable and subtly tries to inch away from her.

 

He had worked with Nikki when he had been with Dave before and she had always been overly enthusiastic when working with the band. And not in the way that a lot of the fans were with Dan, but she seriously seemed to think she was good friends with the man. Dan couldn’t seem to get her to believe that they weren’t close and over the past week she had bombarded him with constant messages to find out why he had stopped talking to her for the past year.

 

It wasn’t that she was a horrible person and that Dan disliked her particularly, but he had never gone out of his way to be particularly friendly to her. She just wasn’t his kind of person. She was egregious and loud and brash, and that wasn’t the kind of person Dan took to particularly easily.

 

“Don’t call him Danny boy,” Jools relaxes back in the lime green sofa next to him and Dan whips his head round quickly to look at her gratefully.

 

Nikki looks put out as she senses the singer relax. Jools grabs the paper from her hand before she can stop her and starts to skim read the things that had been put down.

 

“Hang on, _don’t_ mention his marriage?” Jools says as she reaches that specific point on the second page.

 

“What?” Dan exclaims, getting closer to his actual friend and looking over her shoulder as she points out that particular bullet point for him. “I’m not gonna fucking sing the wedding march, but why would I ignore that?”

 

“That’s my best friend he’s married to; why would Charlene want to ignore the fact he’s married?”

 

Both of them stare at Nikki dumbfounded, waiting for an answer. The girl flicks he feathered copper hair back off of her shoulders and crosses her legs and her arms as she tries to waste time coming up with a suitable answer. Charlene had assured her that this was buried so far under everything else that Dan wouldn’t even notice it until the last minute, so now she was trying to do damage control.

 

“Well, basically, uhm,” she stutters over the answer, and Jools visibly gets angrier watching her flounder for an answer. “Dave and Charlene want to avoid anything that might be inflammatory regarding that recent magazine article. So they thought it would be a good idea if you avoided the fact…or, y’know, pretend it hasn’t happened…or say that you’re single…” her voice gets smaller as she continues to talk and watches Dan’s eyes get wider and then narrower as he realises exactly what she was asking.

 

“Fuck that,” he cries loudly and then laughs mirthlessly at her. “Tell Dave and Charlene that that ain’t happening,” he says. “Oh and you can also tell them…” he’s cut off by his phone ringing the tone for his sister in law, and realising what it was he jumps up and rushes out of the room into the hallway to answer it.

 

“I’m going to rip your husband’s throat out, is that okay?” comes a forced cheery voice through obvious gritted teeth after he greets Tasha.

 

In the background Dan can hear the inquisitive voice of Claire and Logan as they clearly interrogate Kyle about something. He can hear the other man calmly explain something to them and sound very matter of fact about it. “…and that’s why we don’t want that one,” comes floating through the speaker of the phone towards him and Dan tries to smother his laughter.

 

“Having fun?” Dan tries through giggles.

 

“Your sister told me it took you half an hour to find your outfit. I’ve been in this same shop for _four and a half hours_ , Daniel!”

 

“That’s because Dan will literally throw on anything, I need to look good!” comes a distant voice. “He’s going on telly and I bet he’s wearing his normal black jeans and my Loony Tunes shirt!”

 

Dan looks down at himself. He hadn’t been out of bed that morning when Kyle had left, but his husband was right, he was indeed wearing that exact outfit. He frowns at the phone and scoffs slightly. “Pfft, no…I’ve got my jacket too…” he mumbles.

 

“Anyway, Ky wanted me to let you know we’re on our way to drop him off alright? He said you’d be panicking and I took his phone off of him this morning so I could have his full attention.”

 

“Ah, now I know why he’s been acting like an arsehole then,” Dan says to her and can hear her rolling her eyes on the other end of the line.

 

\---

“You alright?” Jools holds Dan’s arms as he breathes heavily, the loud introduction music playing as the beginning monologue on stage begins to end.

 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m good,” he says quietly as he watches as the other guests mill around as well. He can’t help but feel jealous as they all look at ease and relaxed, while he is having a mini panic attack in his husband’s best friend’s arms.

 

“Remember the list Danny boy,” Nikki’s voice shouts brashly at him and both him and Jools both glare at her. She does nothing but smile condescendingly and shrug her shoulders.

 

“You’ll be great, as soon as Kyle gets here I’ll let you know somehow,” Jools assures him and he looks at her and nods wide eyed.

 

_“…later we’ll be having music from them, but first he’s talking to us…my first guest, Dan Smith from Bastille!”_ and with that a producer shoves him gently towards the sparkling entrance to the stage. Taking one last big deep breath, Dan walks up the couple of steps and walks out on to the bright pink set, the stage lights blinding him slightly as he walks towards the waiting red sofa he was so used to watching on television himself.

 

Dan had watched Graham Norton for years, ever since he had started on Channel Four, so when Dave had said they were going to be performing on this week’s show, Dan had assumed that would be it. When Charlene had rung the following day and said one of the guests had pulled out and they wanted Dan to be a full guest, he had been in complete awe.

 

Now his feet were carrying him towards the over the top Irishman, he wasn’t too sure he wanted to do this anymore. But in typical Dan fashion he had decided this far too late to actually do anything about it. He walks towards the smiling bearded man and manages to not cock up a handshake as he shakes the older man’s one forcefully and is gestured towards the end of the sofa, exchanging greetings as he went.

 

Settling right at the end, he pulls one of his legs under him and tries to make his six foot one frame seem as small as he could. He watches as the next guest is introduced. He had seen the other guests backstage, but being surrounded by Nikki with her lists and rules and Jools with her constant worry and then his own anxiety as well, he hadn’t had time between all of that and the normal television preamble of make-up and applying of microphones and making sure the stage hands set up their instruments properly.

 

Eddie Redmayne greets Graham like an old friend and walks over to the couch, unbuttoning his suit jacket before settling down next to Dan and smiling widely at him.

 

“Hi! I’m Eddie, I live your music,” he says holding his hand out to Dan and the singer looks back at him completely surprised.

 

“Really? Oh, wow! I love your movies!” is all he can say in return and he returns the handshake, smiling widely back at the dark red haired man.

 

“And now, she’s the third best-selling singles artist in America, she’s won Grammy’s, American Country Music Awards and Brits, but tonight she’s here to talk to us about her new film…please welcome, Taylor Swift!”

 

The crowd goes wild. The screaming is deafening as the young, slim blond singer walks confidently on stage. Dan stands with Eddie and plasters on one of his fakest smile and all that runs through his head in that moment is ‘I can’t control my face, they’re so going to know what I’m thinking’, but he continues to smile and as she walks closer to the couch she hugs Eddie as Dan just awkwardly sticks his hand out to shake hers instead of the Hollywood ‘double cheek kiss’.

 

The crowd settles down and Dan sits himself back in the same position he was in before. Graham smiles at them all and welcomes them again as he plays with his cue cards, and all Dan wants is to get a look at the questions so he can see what he’s going to be asked. He lets out a breath loudly.

 

“Well, it’s good to see that two thirds of out couch made an effort for tonight…not looking at anyone in particular, Dan Smith!” the comedian says and the audience laughs at him, Dan blushing furiously.

 

“Uhm, yeah, I’m really not one for fashion,” he says, laughing at himself slightly in a self-deprecating way.

 

“You wear a lot of fan creations don’t you?” Graham asks and Dan looks at him and smiles a bit wider.

 

“Yeah! Yeah, like I’m really lucky that a lot of our fans seem to bring me clothes…so I’ve not actually got to buy a lot of my own shirts or anything…it’s actually quite nice they seem to know my style actually!” he adds with a smile.

 

“Really? They bring you clothes?” Eddie asks him, genuinely interested.

 

“Yeah, it’s so cool, a lot of the stuff is their art based on our songs so it actually means something!”

 

“That’s is cool! I think the best thing I ever got given by a fan was a page of that sweater catalogue you had last time I was here Graham…so yeah, they gave me my own face, for some reason…”

 

And with that the interviews had started. Taylor and Eddie being the more famous of the couch had most of the attention, and Dan couldn’t help but be thankful that his current home life didn’t mean as much to the a-list celebrities and interviewers as he thought it might. About half an hour into the show, Graham showed a clip of Taylor’s film. Now Dan really wanted to pay attention, but at the moment the clip started, he noticed some waving from the corner of the stage and his attention was completely grabbed.

 

From behind a very bright light, he could see a very familiar shadow, and when the brightness dimmed slightly he found himself looking at the cocked eyebrows of his husband smiling back at him with his thumbs up and looking as big of a dork as he possibly could.

 

He giggles without realising it and Eddie catches the noise and looks round too.

 

“Oh, is that Kyle?” he whispers to Dan as the clip continues on the screen, keeping everyone else’s attention.

 

“Fuck, you really are a fan if you know that!” Dan says incredulously and smiling back at him.

 

“Mate, you’re more famous that I think you think you are,” the other man jokes back.

 

The rest of the interview goes off without a hitch, but Dan does notice that the singer is more than upset that the two guys on the couch paid no attention to her clip at all. Finally, it was time for Dan to sing, and he feels a weight lifted off of his shoulders. This is the thing he could do. And afterwards the guys would be out with him too. He would be safe, and would finally be able to pass off questions to someone else.

 

“So Dan, you’ll be singing now, what is it you’re gonna be doing for us?”

 

“Well actually we’ve just finished touring out second album, but thought we would do one of our older songs for you tonight,” Dan said and Graham smiles and nods as he introduces Dan after he lets him disappear off to the stage to join his band.

 

“Oh thank fuck you guys are here finally,” he says as soon as he sees them, hugging each of them briefly before holding onto Kyle with all of his might.

 

“Baby, don’t panic,” Kyle says in his ear as he starts to pull away. “Come over here as if you’re looking at this,” he says and Dan walks over to his set up confused.

 

“They’re gonna ask about Laura,” Kyle murmurs to him and Dan looks at him shocked. “I saw the prompt,” he explains before Dan can ask.

 

“Fuck, shit, fuck,” Dan says to him as he puts his earphones in and checks the sound.

 

“We’ll sort this together, babes alright?”

 

Dan looks at him. All he wants to do is escape and cry. He looks at the audience and then at everyone around him. Will and Woody throw him questioning looks. The space behind Kyle was empty without his brother in law there. Now on national television he was going to be asked about everything going on with his personal life and he had been told to deny he was even married.

 

For the first time since all this had started he wanted to quit and end it all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone. So this is the last chapter of this part!!
> 
> Its a bit bitter sweet this one, I'm gonna be taking a bit of a break for a while to finish my other WIP, but will definitely finish this off for you trust me...I like my cliffhangers, but i'm not gone forever.
> 
> So please enjoy, and let me know what you think might be happening in the future...what will happen with Laura and her baby? Will they continue or is Dan gonna end it now? How's the party gonna go? Anything you want to say let it rip!
> 
> Love all you guys for reading and for your comments throughout...hope you stay with me
> 
> <33


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